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Cannabinoid Research

Below is a list of selected research papers on cannabinoids, cannabinoid physiology, and the potential uses of cannabinoids. With growing global interest in cannabinoids, the volume of research activities is increasing exponentially. We’ll continue to update this resource as new and relevant research studies are published.

Research Papers Involving CBD

Anxiolytic

  • Key Outcomes
  • Reference
  • Organism
  • CBD significantly reduced anxiety, cognitive impairment and discomfort in their speech performance, and significantly decreased alert in their anticipatory speech

  • Bergamaschi, M. M., Queiroz, R. H. C., Chagas, M. H. N., De Oliveira, D. C. G., De Martinis, B. S., Kapczinski, F., … Crippa, J. A. S. (2011). Cannabidiol reduces the anxiety induced by simulated public speaking in treatment-nave social phobia patients. Neuropsychopharmacology, 36(6), 1219–1226. https://doi.org/10.1038/npp.2011.6

  • Human
  • Anxiety scores decreased within the first month in 57 patients (79.2%) and remained decreased during the study duration. Sleep scores improved within the first month in 48 patients (66.7%).

  • Shannon, S., Lewis, N., Lee, H., & Hughes, S. (2019). Cannabidiol in Anxiety and Sleep: A Large Case Series. The Permanente Journal, 23, 18–041. https://doi.org/10.7812/TPP/18-041

  • Human
  • Administration of oral CBD in addition to routine psychiatric care was associated with PTSD symptom reduction in 10 of 11 patients, as evidenced by a lower PCL-5 score at 8 weeks relative to baseline. CBD was generally well tolerated, and no patients discontinued treatment due to side effects.

  • Elms, L., Shannon, S., Hughes, S., & Lewis, N. (2019). Cannabidiol in the Treatment of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: A Case Series. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine, 25(4), 392–397. https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2018.0437

  • Human

Antioxidant

  • Key Outcomes
  • Reference
  • Organism
  • Treatment with CBD caused attenuation of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a murine model of MS, as indicated by a significant reduction in clinical scores of paralysis, decreased T cell infiltration in the central nervous system, and reduced levels of IL-17 and IFNγ.

  • Elliott, D. M., Singh, N., Nagarkatti, M., & Nagarkatti, P. S. (2018). Cannabidiol attenuates experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis model of multiple sclerosis through induction of myeloid-derived suppressor cells. Frontiers in Immunology, 9(AUG), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2018.01782

  • Mice
  • Intraperitoneal or intrarectal treatment of mice with CBD led to improvement of colonic inflammation induced by trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid.

  • Schicho, R., & Storr, M. (2012). Topical and systemic cannabidiol improves trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid colitis in mice. Pharmacology, 89(3–4), 149–155. https://doi.org/10.1159/000336871

  • Mice
  • Cannabidiol reduced aberrant crypt foci (preneoplastic lesions), polyps and tumours in a model of colon cancer induced by azoxymethane (AOM).

  • Aviello, G., Romano, B., Borrelli, F., Capasso, R., Gallo, L., Piscitelli, F., … Izzo, A. A. (2012). Chemopreventive effect of the non-psychotropic phytocannabinoid cannabidiol on experimental colon cancer. Journal of Molecular Medicine, 90(8), 925–934. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00109-011-0856-x

  • Mice
  • In a mouse model of type 1 diabetes, 32% of the mice in the CBD-treated group developed disease vs. 100% in untreated controls. In addition, CBD-treated mice had lower proinflammatory cytokine levels and more intact pancreatic islets than untreated controls.

  • Weiss, L., Zeira, M., Reich, S., Slavin, S., Raz, I., Mechoulam, R., & Gallily, R. (2008). Cannabidiol arrests onset of autoimmune diabetes in NOD mice. Neuropharmacology, 54(1), 244–249. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropharm.2007.06.029

  • Mice
  • CBD prevented brain hypoxia-induced inflammatory lung damage in newborn pigs, reducing lung histological damage, leukocyte infiltration, inflammatory cytokines, and protein content in lung fluid.

  • Arruza, L., Pazos, M. R., Mohammed, N., Escribano, N., Lafuente, H., Santos, M., … Martínez-Orgado, J. (2017). Cannabidiol reduces lung injury induced by hypoxic-ischemic brain damage in newborn piglets. Pediatric Research, 82(1), 79–86. https://doi.org/10.1038/pr.2017.104

  • Pigs

Antibacterial

  • Key Outcomes
  • Reference
  • Organism
  • Cannabidiol showed potent activity against a variety of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains of clinical relevance.

  • Appendino, G., Gibbons, S., Giana, A., Pagani, A., Grassi, G., Stavri, M., … Rahman, M. M. (2008). Antibacterial cannabinoids from Cannabis sativa: A structure-activity study. Journal of Natural Products, 71(8), 1427–1430. https://doi.org/10.1021/np8002673

  • MRSA

Schizophrenia

  • Key Outcomes
  • Reference
  • Organism
  • In a double-blind, randomized clinical trial in patients with acute schizophrenia, treatment with cannabidiol was safe and led to significant clinical improvement, as well as a markedly superior side effect profile compared to the potent antipsychotic amisulpride. Moreover, cannabidiol treatment was accompanied by a significant increase in serum anandamide levels, which was significantly associated with clinical improvement.

  • Leweke, F. M., Piomelli, D., Pahlisch, F., Muhl, D., Gerth, C. W., Hoyer, C., … Koethe, D. (2012). Cannabidiol enhances anandamide signaling and alleviates psychotic symptoms of schizophrenia. Translational Psychiatry, 2(January). https://doi.org/10.1038/tp.2012.15

  • Human

Anticonvulsant

  • Key Outcomes
  • Reference
  • Organism
  • Monthly frequency of drop seizures decreased by a median of 43.9% in the CBD group, significantly more than in the placebo group

  • Thiele, E. A., Marsh, E. D., French, J. A., Mazurkiewicz, M. B., Benbadis, S. R., Joshi, C., … Wilfong, A. (2018). Cannabidiol in patients with seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (GWPCARE4): a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase 3 trial. The Lancet, 391(10125), 1085–1096. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(18)30136-3

  • Human
  • Significantly greater reduction in CBD groups in drop seizure frequency than in placebo

  • Devinsky, O., Patel, A. D., Cross, J. H., Villanueva, V., Wirrell, E. C., Privitera, M., … Zuberi, S. M. (2018). Effect of cannabidiol on drop seizures in the lennox–gastaut syndrome. New England Journal of Medicine, 378(20), 1888–1897. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1714631

  • Human
  • Reduction in frequency of convulsive seizures compared to baseline, significantly greater reduction than with placebo

  • Devinsky, O., Cross, J. H., Laux, L., Marsh, E., Miller, I., Nabbout, R., … Wright, S. (2017). Trial of cannabidiol for drug-resistant seizures in the dravet syndrome. New England Journal of Medicine, 376(21), 2011–2020. https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1611618

  • Human
  • 89% of patients reported reduction in seizure frequency. Improvement in behavior, alertness, language, communication, motor skills, and sleep were reported.

  • Tzadok, M., Uliel-Siboni, S., Linder, I., Kramer, U., Epstein, O., Menascu, S., … Ben-Zeev, B. (2016). CBD-enriched medical cannabis for intractable pediatric epilepsy: The current Israeli experience. Seizure, 35, 41–44. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.seizure.2016.01.004

  • Human

Anti-inflammatory

  • Key Outcomes
  • Reference
  • Organism
  • Treatment with CBD caused attenuation of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), a murine model of MS, as indicated by a significant reduction in clinical scores of paralysis, decreased T cell infiltration in the central nervous system, and reduced levels of IL-17 and IFNγ.

  • Elliott, D. M., Singh, N., Nagarkatti, M., & Nagarkatti, P. S. (2018). Cannabidiol attenuates experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis model of multiple sclerosis through induction of myeloid-derived suppressor cells. Frontiers in Immunology, 9(AUG), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2018.01782

  • Mice
  • Intraperitoneal or intrarectal treatment of mice with CBD led to improvement of colonic inflammation induced by trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid.

  • Schicho, R., & Storr, M. (2012). Topical and systemic cannabidiol improves trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid colitis in mice. Pharmacology, 89(3–4), 149–155. https://doi.org/10.1159/000336871

  • Mice
  • Cannabidiol reduced aberrant crypt foci (preneoplastic lesions), polyps and tumours in a model of colon cancer induced by azoxymethane (AOM).

  • Aviello, G., Romano, B., Borrelli, F., Capasso, R., Gallo, L., Piscitelli, F., … Izzo, A. A. (2012). Chemopreventive effect of the non-psychotropic phytocannabinoid cannabidiol on experimental colon cancer. Journal of Molecular Medicine, 90(8), 925–934. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00109-011-0856-x

  • Mice
  • In a mouse model of type 1 diabetes, 32% of the mice in the CBD-treated group developed disease vs. 100% in untreated controls. In addition, CBD-treated mice had lower proinflammatory cytokine levels and more intact pancreatic islets than untreated controls.

  • Weiss, L., Zeira, M., Reich, S., Slavin, S., Raz, I., Mechoulam, R., & Gallily, R. (2008). Cannabidiol arrests onset of autoimmune diabetes in NOD mice. Neuropharmacology, 54(1), 244–249. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.neuropharm.2007.06.029

  • Mice
  • CBD prevented brain hypoxia-induced inflammatory lung damage in newborn pigs, reducing lung histological damage, leukocyte infiltration, inflammatory cytokines, and protein content in lung fluid.

  • Arruza, L., Pazos, M. R., Mohammed, N., Escribano, N., Lafuente, H., Santos, M., … Martínez-Orgado, J. (2017). Cannabidiol reduces lung injury induced by hypoxic-ischemic brain damage in newborn piglets. Pediatric Research, 82(1), 79–86. https://doi.org/10.1038/pr.2017.104

  • Pigs

Hematopoietic Cell Transplant

  • Key Outcomes
  • Reference
  • Organism
  • No patients developed acute Gravt Vs. Host Disease (GVHD), a significantly reduced risk ratio compared to historical case controls.

  • Yeshurun, M., Shpilberg, O., Herscovici, C., Shargian, L., Dreyer, J., Peck, A., … Ram, R. (2015). Cannabidiol for the Prevention of Graft-versus-Host-Disease after Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation: Results of a Phase II Study. Biology of Blood and Marrow Transplantation, 21(10), 1770–1775. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbmt.2015.05.018

  • Human

Acne

  • Key Outcomes
  • Reference
  • Organism
  • Administration of CBD to cultured human sebocytes and human skin organ culture inhibited the lipogenic actions of various compounds and suppressed sebocyte proliferation.

  • Oláh, A., Tóth, B. I., Borbíró, I., Sugawara, K., Szöllõsi, A. G., Czifra, G., … Bíró, T. (2014). Cannabidiol exerts sebostatic and antiinflammatory effects on human sebocytes. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 124(9), 3713–3724. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI64628

  • Human

Autism

  • Key Outcomes
  • Reference
  • Organism
  • Considerable improvement was reported in behavior (61%), communication (47%), and anxiety (39%), after at least 3 months of cannabis treatment. 33% of children reduced their other medication doses and 24% stopped taking medications altogether.

  • Aran, A., Cassuto, H., Lubotzky, A., Wattad, N., & Hazan, E. (2019). Brief Report: Cannabidiol-Rich Cannabis in Children with Autism Spectrum Disorder and Severe Behavioral Problems—A Retrospective Feasibility Study. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 49(3), 1284–1288. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-018-3808-2

  • Human
  • The vast majority of patients reported an improvement in autism symptoms after six months treatment, including depression (100%), restlessness (89.8%), rage attacks (89%), anxiety (88.8%), seizures (84.6%), agitation (83.8%), tics (80%), digestion problems (62.5%), constipation (62.5%), and sleep problems (58.6%). 34.3% of patients decreased medication consumption, including antipsychotics, antiepileptics, antidepressants, hypnotics, and sedatives.

  • Bar-Lev Schleider, L., Mechoulam, R., Saban, N., Meiri, G., & Novack, V. (2019). Real life Experience of Medical Cannabis Treatment in Autism: Analysis of Safety and Efficacy. Scientific Reports, 9(1), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-37570-y

  • Human

Research Papers Involving CBG

Antioxidant

  • Key Outcomes
  • Reference
  • Organism
  • In a mouse model of Huntington's Disease, CBG was extremely active as neuroprotectant, improving motor deficits, preserving striatal neurons, attenuating proinflammatory markers, increasing antioxidant defenses and producing a small reduction in the aggregation of mutant huntingtin in the striatal parenchyma.

  • Valdeolivas, S., Navarrete, C., Cantarero, I., Bellido, M. L., Muñoz, E., & Sagredo, O. (2015). Neuroprotective Properties of Cannabigerol in Huntington’s Disease: Studies in R6/2 Mice and 3-Nitropropionate-lesioned Mice. Neurotherapeutics, 12(1), 185–199. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13311-014-0304-z

  • Mice
  • In a mouse model of colitis, CBG reduced colon weight relative to length, reduced markers of oxidative stress and attenuated disease progression.

  • Borrelli, F., Fasolino, I., Romano, B., Capasso, R., Maiello, F., Coppola, D., … Izzo, A. A. (2013). Beneficial effect of the non-psychotropic plant cannabinoid cannabigerol on experimental inflammatory bowel disease. Biochemical Pharmacology, 85(9), 1306–1316. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bcp.2013.01.017

  • Mice
  • CBG inhibited the growth of chemically-induced colon cancer in mice.

  • Borrelli, F., Pagano, E., Romano, B., Panzera, S., Maiello, F., Coppola, D., … Izzo, A. A. (2014). Colon carcinogenesis is inhibited by the TRPM8 antagonist cannabigerol, a Cannabis-derived non-psychotropic cannabinoid. Carcinogenesis, 35(12), 2787–2797. https://doi.org/10.1093/carcin/bgu205

  • Mice

Antibacterial

  • Key Outcomes
  • Reference
  • Organism
  • CBG inhibits the ability of MRSA to form biofilms, eradicates cells persistent to antibiotics, and demonstrates in vivo efficacy in a mouse model of systemic MRSA infection. CBG is also effective against multi-drug resistant Gram-negative pathogens whose outer membrane is permeabilized by Polymixin B, where CBG acts on the inner membrane.

  • Farha, M. A., El-Halfawy, O. M., Gale, R. T., MacNair, C. R., Carfrae, L. A., Zhang, X., … Brown, E. D. (2019). Uncovering the hidden antibiotic potential of Cannabis. BioRxiv, 833392. https://doi.org/10.1101/833392

  • Mice
  • Cannabigerol showed potent activity against a variety of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) strains of clinical relevance.

  • Appendino, G., Gibbons, S., Giana, A., Pagani, A., Grassi, G., Stavri, M., … Rahman, M. M. (2008). Antibacterial cannabinoids from Cannabis sativa: A structure-activity study. Journal of Natural Products, 71(8), 1427–1430. https://doi.org/10.1021/np8002673

  • MRSA
  • CBG inhibits the ability of MRSA to form biofilms, eradicates cells persistent to antibiotics, and demonstrates in vivo efficacy in a mouse model of systemic MRSA infection. CBG is also effective against multi-drug resistant Gram-negative pathogens whose outer membrane is permeabilized by Polymixin B, where CBG acts on the inner membrane.

  • Farha, M. A., El-Halfawy, O. M., Gale, R. T., MacNair, C. R., Carfrae, L. A., Zhang, X., … Brown, E. D. (2019). Uncovering the hidden antibiotic potential of Cannabis. BioRxiv, 833392. https://doi.org/10.1101/833392

  • MRSA

Anti-inflammatory

  • Key Outcomes
  • Reference
  • Organism
  • In a mouse model of Huntington's Disease, CBG was extremely active as neuroprotectant, improving motor deficits, preserving striatal neurons, attenuating proinflammatory markers, increasing antioxidant defenses and producing a small reduction in the aggregation of mutant huntingtin in the striatal parenchyma.

  • Valdeolivas, S., Navarrete, C., Cantarero, I., Bellido, M. L., Muñoz, E., & Sagredo, O. (2015). Neuroprotective Properties of Cannabigerol in Huntington’s Disease: Studies in R6/2 Mice and 3-Nitropropionate-lesioned Mice. Neurotherapeutics, 12(1), 185–199. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13311-014-0304-z

  • Mice
  • In a mouse model of colitis, CBG reduced colon weight relative to length, reduced markers of oxidative stress and attenuated disease progression.

  • Borrelli, F., Fasolino, I., Romano, B., Capasso, R., Maiello, F., Coppola, D., … Izzo, A. A. (2013). Beneficial effect of the non-psychotropic plant cannabinoid cannabigerol on experimental inflammatory bowel disease. Biochemical Pharmacology, 85(9), 1306–1316. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bcp.2013.01.017

  • Mice
  • CBG inhibited the growth of chemically-induced colon cancer in mice.

  • Borrelli, F., Pagano, E., Romano, B., Panzera, S., Maiello, F., Coppola, D., … Izzo, A. A. (2014). Colon carcinogenesis is inhibited by the TRPM8 antagonist cannabigerol, a Cannabis-derived non-psychotropic cannabinoid. Carcinogenesis, 35(12), 2787–2797. https://doi.org/10.1093/carcin/bgu205

  • Mice

Appetite Stimulant

  • Key Outcomes
  • Reference
  • Organism
  • In a mouse model of Huntington's Disease, CBG was extremely active as neuroprotectant, improving motor deficits, preserving striatal neurons, attenuating proinflammatory markers, increasing antioxidant defenses and producing a small reduction in the aggregation of mutant huntingtin in the striatal parenchyma.

  • Valdeolivas, S., Navarrete, C., Cantarero, I., Bellido, M. L., Muñoz, E., & Sagredo, O. (2015). Neuroprotective Properties of Cannabigerol in Huntington’s Disease: Studies in R6/2 Mice and 3-Nitropropionate-lesioned Mice. Neurotherapeutics, 12(1), 185–199. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13311-014-0304-z

  • Rats
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