CB1 Receptor Signaling in the Brain: Extracting Specificity from Ubiquity.

Arnau Busquets-Garcia, Jaideep Bains, Giovanni Marsicano
Neuropsychopharmacology. 2017-09-01; 43(1): 4-20
DOI: 10.1038/npp.2017.206

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1. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2018 Jan;43(1):4-20. doi: 10.1038/npp.2017.206. Epub
2017 Sep 1.

CB1 Receptor Signaling in the Brain: Extracting Specificity from Ubiquity.

Busquets-Garcia A(1)(2), Bains J(3), Marsicano G(1)(2).

Author information:
(1)INSERM U1215, NeuroCentre Magendie, Team ‘Endocannabinoids and
Neuroadaptation’, Bordeaux, France.
(2)Université de Bordeaux, Bordeaux, France.
(3)Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, Hotchkiss Brain Institute,
University of Calgary, Calgary, AB, Canada.

Endocannabinoids (eCBs) are amongst the most ubiquitous signaling molecules in
the nervous system. Over the past few decades, observations based on a large
volume of work, first examining the pharmacological effects of exogenous
cannabinoids, and then the physiological functions of eCBs, have directly
challenged long-held and dogmatic views about communication, plasticity and
behavior in the central nervous system (CNS). The eCBs and their cognate
cannabinoid receptors exhibit a number of unique properties that distinguish them
from the widely studied classical amino-acid transmitters, neuropeptides, and
catecholamines. Although we now have a loose set of mechanistic rules based on
experimental findings, new studies continue to reveal that our understanding of
the eCB system (ECS) is continuously evolving and challenging long-held
conventions. Here we will briefly summarize findings on the current canonical
view of the ‘ECS’ and will address novel aspects that reveal how a nearly
ubiquitous system can determine highly specific functions in the brain. In
particular, we will focus on findings that push for an expansion of our ideas
around long-held beliefs about eCB signaling that, while clearly true, may be
contributing to an oversimplified perspective on how cannabinoid signaling at the
microscopic level impacts behavior at the macroscopic level.

DOI: 10.1038/npp.2017.206
PMCID: PMC5719111
PMID: 28862250 [Indexed for MEDLINE]

Auteurs Bordeaux Neurocampus