Honors Theses
Date of Award
2018
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Pharmaceutics and Drug Delivery
First Advisor
Mahmoud A. ElSohly
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
Objective: This research examined the contributions of terpenes (volatile oil) and cannabinoids in cannabis mediated analgesia in rats. Methods: In experiment 1, separate groups of rats received IP administration of either vehicle, 5, 10, or 15 mg/kg cannabis extract, one of three concentrations of volatile oil alone in these cannabis extracts, one of three concentrations of these extracts with volatile oils removed, 2.5, 5, or 7.5 mg/kg Δ9-THC, or 10 or 18 mg/kg morphine 30 m before hotplate and tail-flick tests of thermal nociception. One week later, separate groups of rats received a second administration of these test articles IP 30 m before testing in the acetic acid writhing test of inflammatory nociception. Results: Both tail-flick and hotplate latencies were longer than controls for all drug groups/doses except the isolated volatile oil groups. The 15 mg/kg dose of the cannabis extract and 7.5mg/kg Δ9 -THC group showed analgesic effects similar to the 18 mg/kg morphine group. In the inflammatory nociceptive assay, all drug groups/doses showed decreased writhes compared to the control except the isolated volatile oil groups. Conclusions: These tests revealed that terpenes do not significantly contribute to the analgesic action of cannabis extracts. Further, these tests revealed that THC alone produced robust analgesia equivalent to the whole cannabis extract. This leads to the conclusion that THC alone mediates these analgesic actions of cannabis extracts and other components do not significantly affect the analgesic activity of the extract.
Recommended Citation
Rousseau, Margaret A., "The Role of Cannabinoids and Terpenes in Cannabis Mediated Analgesia in Rats" (2018). Honors Theses. 633.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/633
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