What are cannabinoid receptors?

THE CB receptors can be found throughout the body, and there are two main kinds: CB1 and CB2 receptors. CB1 receptors are mostly found in the brain with some present in the lung, kidney, liver, fat, heart, muscle and bone. CB2 receptors are primarily found in the immune system, and blood cells but both can be found in the same tissues providing different functions. CB1 receptors are mostly responsible for the psychoactive and euphoric effects of THC. On the other hand, CB2 receptors mostly work in the immune system, but they are also present in the liver, gut, muscle and bone.

Generally speaking the CB1 and CB2 receptors cause healing properties when activated within the areas of the body they are located. Receptors are similar to lucks, and the cannabinoids are the keys. The activity of CB1 and twp receptors usually reverses the damage done to the body, returning it to homeostasis. This also applies to mental health damage because endocannabinoids can aid in balancing mood and creating euphoria.

The balance between CB1 and CB2 inhibition and activation by cannabinoids is important. Heavy CB1 inhibition may lead to an increased risk of depression, mood disturbance, and immunosuppression. However, if CB1 over-activates there is an increased risk of psychoactivity, systemic inflammation, cardiovascular risk, diabetes, and obesity.

What does the endocannabinoid system do?

The primary job of the endocannabinoids system is to promote homeostasis, which maintains a stable internal environment despite changes in the external environment. The fact that the endocannabinoid system is connected with most of our basic functions may reveal why cannabis has been found useful in treating many medical conditions.

According to one study, the endocannabinoid system is nothing less a naturally evolved harm reduction system. Endocannabinoid levels naturally increase after a head injury is sustained, illustrating the body’s awareness of the sudden lack in homeostasis and the use of endocannabinoids as a remedy.

The Effects of Cannabis on the Endocannabinoid System

Research has shown that taking small amounts of cannabinoids from cannabis can signal the body to make more endocannabinoids and build more receptors than there already are inside the body. This may be part of why users do not get high immediately, but after a few smokes enough receptors have been made to respond, then you can feel it.

Cannabinoids and Cancer

Cannabinoids have been found to be useful chemotherapeutic agents. In fact, cannabinoids have been found to kill cancer cells. This and the pain relief canabinoids provide are the main reasons chemo patients turn to smoking weed to get through their therapy.

In Conclusion

Endocannabinoids have been assigned to fix biochemical imbalances that come in damaged or diseased states. From birth, cannabinoids are presented to us within our mother’s milk. The endocannabinoid system remains an important aspect of the way our bodies can heal and function, ingesting cannabinoids are a supplement to our natural healing process. Further research on endocannabinoids and the endocannabinoid system can help elaborate more ways in which we can use cannabinoids to heal our bodies and minds.

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Endocannabinoids

So how does the cannabinoids from cannabis have an effect on us? The body produces a group of cannabis-like chemicals called endogenous cannabidnoids (endocannabinoids). When brought together, they regulate many bodily functions, ranging from sleep, blood pressure, immune response, and bone growth, among others. When the different endocannabinoids work together in a proper way, they help to keep us balanced and healthy. Scientists have discovered that an unbalance in endocannabinoid activity is involved in many medical conditions.

Receptors

Endocannabinoids exert their own biological effects by binding to the cannabinoid receptors, which act like levers or switches to change bodily functions such as your pain responses or appetite. It is now known that cannabinoid receptors can now be found in most parts of the brain, as well as in the immune system and a variety of other organs as well. Endocannabinoids and their receptors together are called the endocannabinoid system. This system can even be found in very primitive organisms, which indicates that it might have a very fundamental and important role in basic physiology.

Plant cannabinoids and endocannabinoids

Some of the plant-derived cannabinoids bind to the endocannabinoid receptors, and can therefore include responses that are normally regulated by the endocannabinoids. The wide distribution area of these cannabinoid receptors in the human body, seems to explain many of the effects users experience when they consume cannabis.

Cannabinoids also have effects that are completely independent, without binding to the receptors. For example, some cannabinoids are known to be potent anti-oxidants. Others do not bind directly to the receptors, but they can influence the way other cannabinoids bind.

Cannabinoid receptors are mainly found in the nervous system and immune system, which makes it easy to understand why the use of cannabis may have an effect on medical conditions. It all depends on whether and where the immune system or nervous system is involved. This doesn’t necessarily mean that it is easy for scientists to translate these effects in order to development a viable medicine for some disease or ailment.

Balance

A recreational cannabis user unbalances his body, and enjoys the effects as a pleasurable experience but that is not the only way to look at it. Under a medical condition, the body is already out of balance, the use of cannabinoids may restore balance again. If you look at it in this way, the difference between recreational and medical use becomes quite clear.

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