Assessment of neuronal cytotoxicity of JWH-073 and JWH-250

Pereira, Carlos Victor Montefusco

http://hdl.handle.net/10400.26/6715

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Authors

Pereira, Carlos Victor Montefusco

Advisor(s)

Quintas, Alexandre

Costa, Joana Couceiro da

Abstract(s)

Synthetic cannabinoids from marijuana herbal blends like ‘Spice’ and ‘K2’ are drawing the attention of drug of abuse organizations, including the UNODC1, the EMCCDA2 and emergency hospital all over the world. This concern rises from clinical episodes of psychotropic effects that go beyond the regular range of marijuana and THC – namely, panic attacks, psychosis, catatonia, addiction and withdrawal symptoms. Our study addressed two emergent synthetic cannabinoids (napthtoylindoles) denominated JWH-073 and JWH-250 that are currently detected on ‘Spice’-like products, in order to observe their cell toxicity profile on neuronal cells in vitro model (SH-SY5Y). Using 0.2% DMSO as negative control, MTT and LDH results revealed that within concentrations of 1, 5, 10, 25, 37.5 and 50 μM, JWH-250 is identified as ‘toxic’ in a statistically significant manner at higher concentrations. This work did not detect any statistically significant toxicity from JWH-073. This data suggests to extend these studies on new synthetic cannabinoids to neuronal cells with increased concentrations, as well as the application of assays assessing apoptosis (conditions and signalling), neuronal function and activity (as cell membrane potential assay) within differentiated cells as neurons and glia. At the same time, the evaluation of herbal mixtures of more than one cannabinoids and plant types is advisable in order to understand synergic effects.