Neurochemistry and Neuropharmacology
Author: Catalina Madarnas | email: cata.madarnas@gmail.com
Catalina Madarnas 1°, Jimena Fagetti 2°, Federico Vignolo 3°, Alicia Brusco 1°, Scorza Cecilia 2°, Carolina Echeverry 3°
1° Instituto de Biología Celular y Neurociencia (IBCN), Universidad de Buenos Aires, CONICET, Buenos Aires, Argentina
2° Departamento de Neurofarmacología Experimental, Instituto de Investigaciones Biológicas Clemente Estable (IIBCE), Montevideo, Uruguay
3° Laboratorio de Mecanismos de Neuroprotección y Neurodegeneración, IIBCE, Montevideo, Uruguay
Cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychotomimetic phytocannabinoid, has been associated with multiple therapeutic benefits and also with neuroprotective properties in in vitro models. On the other hand, the adverse effect of ethanol on neural survive is widely known. The aim of this work was to analyze the effect of ethanol on primary culture of cerebellar granule neurons (CGN), and the ability of CDB to attenuate the neurotoxic effect of ethanol. For this purpose, two experimental paradigms were used: 1) ethanol acute exposure in mature neurons; 2) ethanol repeated exposure during neuronal differentiation. The effect of CBD on cell viability of CGN exposed to different ethanol concentrations was evaluated. Mature CGN showed high resistance to ethanol toxicity, being 350 mM the dose in which the viability was reduced at 50%, and 100 mM on repeated exposure during neuronal differentiation. In mature CGN, pretreatment of CBD was unable to preserve cell viability against the ethanol-induced neurotoxicity. When CGN were exposed both to ethanol and CBD during neuronal differentiation, we found that CDB did not preserve cell viability and induced toxicity per se. These results suggest that the reported positive effects of CBD on cell viability do not apply to ethanol injury on CGN cultures. In addition, it also sheds light on possible negative effects of CBD according to the neuronal type and the period of neuronal differentiation in which the exposition occurs.