I think that THC stopping absorption of sugar in your body is not correct. THC is lipophilic (meaning that it binds with fat cells) and metabolites of THC may be stored in fatty cells in your body, this may be where the confusion arises.
Interestingly enough there is a class of chemicals called
cannabinoids, some of which occur naturally in the brain and function as neurotransmitters (which carry signals between neurons). The natural brain cannabinoid is called anandamide.
NB: A neuron has two ends, the axon and the dendrite. A synapse is the space between the axon of one neuron and the dendrite of another. Electrical signals travel from dendrite to axon, axon releases neurotransmitters into the synapse, which then travel to the next dendrite. If the receptors on the dendrite don't match the neurotransmitter, nothing happens. If they match, then the neurotransmitters bind to the dendrite, exciting it, releasing the next electrical signal down the new neuron... passing along the information.
Just as the brain has serotonin and dopamine receptors, there are receptors for all the other neurotransmitters too, including cannabinoids (CB1 receptors). Cannabinoids bind primarly in the basal ganglia (related to unconscious movements) and secondarily in the limbic system (related to integrating memories, and strong emotions) and also in the cerebellum (balance and planning of motion). Cannabinoids act in general as inhibitory neurotransmitters, meaning that they inhibit processes that other neurotransmitters can stimulate (cannabinoids are effective anti-spasmodic agents as the receptors are rich in the areas of the brain that control muscle spasms).
There's a wide literature in this field of science, and I'm not going to attempt to go near most of it, it's way too hard!
But, it's curious that the brain should produce anadamide, which would impair short term memory by binding to CB1 receptors the same way THC does... however, research on a CB1 receptor antagonist called SR141716
* (anti-marijuana? kinda like narcan for opiates) shows that inhibiting this neurotransmitter binding process upsets REM and short-wave sleep. Apparently this shows importance of cannabinoids in the brain's regulation of the sleeping process.
* SR141716A, a potent and selective antagonist of the brain cannabinoid receptor, M Rinaldi-Carmona, F Barth, M Heaulme, D Shire, B Calandra, C Congy, S Martinez, J Maruani, G Naeliat, D Caput, et al, FEBS Lett, 350:2-3, 240-4, August 1994
Early theory <-- note, this is NOT from the above referenced article, the ref for this quote is contained below.
Doctors originally thought that cannabis affected the brain in a fairly random manner and that one of those random effects was hunger.
However, studies in the late 1980s showed that cannabis has a direct impact on appetite.
It triggers a surge in the brain's own cannabis-like chemicals.
These chemicals, called cannabinoids, play a role in regulating appetite.
Scientists at Sanofi-Synthelabo then discovered a way of blocking off receptors in the brain to stop these cannabinoids from sending "hungry" messages.
They have since developed a drug to perform this function. Successful results in animals have led to trials in humans.
The company is now half way through a phase III clinical trial involving more than 6,000 patients.
From: BBC News --> Health -->
Cannabis 'munchies' inspire diet drug (15 Aug 02).
Cannabinoid transmission and reward-related events
Gardner EL, Vorel SR
Department of Psychiatry,
Albert Einstein College of Medicine,
New York, New York 10461-1602, USA.
[email protected]
Neurobiol Dis 1998 Dec; 5(6 Pt B):502-33
ABSTRACT
The reward/reinforcement circuitry of the mammalian brain consists of synaptically interconnected neurons associated with the medial forebrain bundle, linking the ventral tegmental area, nucleus accumbens, and ventral pallidum. Electrical stimulation of this circuit supports intense self-stimulation in animals and, in humans, produces intense pleasure or euphoria. This circuit is strongly implicated in the neural substrates of drug addiction and in such addiction-related phenomena as withdrawal dysphoria and craving. This circuit is also implicated in the pleasures produced by natural rewards (e.g., food, sex). Cannabinoids are euphorigenic in humans and have addictive liability in vulnerable persons, but were long considered "anomalous" drugs of abuse, lacking pharmacological interaction with these brain reward substrates. It is now clear, however, that cannabinoids activate these brain substrates and influence reward-related behaviors. From these actions, presumably, derive both the abuse potential of cannabinoids and the possible clinical efficacy in dysphoric states.
From:
http://www.biopsychiatry.com/cannab.htm.
Experiments on extremely primitive organisms also suggest that the endocannabinoid signalling system plays a physiological role that is to control the feeding response.
BigTrancer
[ 12 February 2003: Message edited by: BigTrancer ]
