A New Challenger to Medical Marijuana?

FRIDAY, Oct. 26, 2018 (HealthDay News) – A moss-like plant is more likely than medical marijuana, animal research suggests.

THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) from marijuana is used to treat such conditions as bread, muscle cramps, dizziness and loss of appetite. However, while medical marijuana is widely accepted in the United States, it is illegal in many countries and causes significant side effects.

Swiss scientists are working with a potential alternative. They say the liverwort plant (Radula perrottetii) contains an anti-inflammatory substance called perrottetinene that's related to THC. The plant only grows in Japan, New Zealand and Costa Rica.

"This natural substance has a weaker psychoactive effect and, at the same time, is capable of inhibiting inflammatory processes in the brain," Andrea Chicca researcher said in a University of Bern news release. Chicca is with the University's Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine.

Using a synthetic version of the compound on lab animals, the researchers found that perrottetinene reaches the brain easily and activates cannabinoid receptors there. They also have a stronger anti-inflammatory effect in the brain than THC.

However, this is still early stage research, the scientific noted, so medical will not compete anytime soon. And research on animals often does not produce the same results in humans.

The study was published Oct. 24 in the journal Science Advances.

Japanese researchers in the 1990s were the first to identify the psychoactive compound in the liverwort plant. Previously, it was thought that only marijuana produced psychoactive effects, according to background notes with the study.

More information

The U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse has more about medical marijuana.