Back when I was in medical school (the late 1970s) the standard teaching was that we were born with a fixed number of brain cells and that the number of brain cells would then decline as we lived our lives. Over the past several years however, exciting research from several institutions including Yale have discovered that in fact the human brain retains the ability to grow new neurons (neurogenesis) throughout our entire lifetimes.
Factors known to enhance the neurogenesis, specifically in the hippocampus, an area of the brain involved in memory function, include the important brain fat DHA, caloric restriction, and mental as well as physical exercise. New research adds marijuana to the list of factors that can actually lead to the growth of new brain cells.
In a recent issue of the Journal of Clinical Investigation, Dr. Xia Zhang and colleagues from the University of Saskatchewan demonstrated that a potent and synthetic cannabinoid not only promotes neurogenesis, but also showed anti-anxiety and antidepressant-like effects. Cannabinoids promote embryonic and adult hippocampus neurogenesis and produce anxiolytic- and antidepressant-like effects (Read Report ).
The researchers suggest that there is a positive correlation between increased adult neurogenesis and changes in behavior following chronic cannabinoid treatment. These results provide additional information about the effects of cannabinoids in the brain, and how these chemicals affect brain processing.
