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Elife 2020 10 20;9. Epub 2020 Oct 20.

Champalimaud Neuroscience Program, Champalimaud Center for the Unknown, Lisbon, Portugal.

Cannabinoids are notorious and profound modulators of behavioral state. In the brain, endocannabinoids act via Type 1-cannabinoid receptors (CB1) to modulate synaptic transmission and mediate multiple forms of synaptic plasticity. CB1 knockout (CB1KO) mice display a range of behavioral phenotypes, in particular hypoactivity and various deficits in learning and memory, including cerebellum-dependent delay eyeblink conditioning. Read More

J Pharmacol Exp Ther 2017 08 7;362(2):296-305. Epub 2017 Jun 7.

Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences (A-L L, L.M.C., K.M., A.G.H.), Program in Neuroscience (L.M.C., K.M., A.G.H.), Gill Center for Biomolecular Science (K.M., A.G.H.), Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana

GW405833, widely accepted as a cannabinoid receptor 2 (CB) agonist, suppresses pathologic pain in preclinical models without the unwanted central side effects of cannabinoid receptor 1 (CB) agonists; however, recent in vitro studies have suggested that GW405833 may also behave as a noncompetitive CB antagonist, suggesting that its pharmacology is more complex than initially appreciated. Here, we further investigated the pharmacologic specificity of in vivo antinociceptive actions of GW405833 in models of neuropathic (i.e. Read More

Psychopharmacology (Berl) 2015 Aug 29;232(16):3019-31. Epub 2015 Apr 29.

Unidad de Investigación Psicobiología de las Drogodependencias, Departamento de Psicobiología, Facultad de Psicología, Universitat de València, Avda. Blasco Ibáñez, 21, 46010, Valencia, Spain,

Rationale: Male CB1KO mice exhibit stronger aggressive responses than wild-type mice.

Objective: This study was designed to examine the role of cannabinoid CB2r in social and aggressive behavior.

Methods: The social interaction test and resident-intruder paradigm were performed in mice lacking CB2r (CB2KO) and in wild-type (WT) littermates. Read More

Mol Pharmacol 2015 Jul 22;88(1):64-74. Epub 2015 Apr 22.

Department of Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry (L.D.), Department of Psychological and Brain Sciences (L.D., B.L.C., K.M., A.G.H.), The Linda and Jack Gill Center for Biomolecular Science (L.D., B.L.C., K.M., A.G.H.), Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana

Cannabinoids suppress neuropathic pain through activation of cannabinoid CB1 and/or CB2 receptors; however, unwanted CB1-mediated cannabimimetic effects limit clinical use. We asked whether CP55,940 [(-)-3-[2-hydroxy-4-(1,1-dimethylheptyl)phenyl]-4-(3-hydroxypropyl)cyclohexanol], a potent cannabinoid that binds with similar affinity to CB1 and CB2 in vitro, produces functionally separable CB1- and CB2-mediated pharmacological effects in vivo. We evaluated antiallodynic effects, possible tolerance, and cannabimimetic effects (e. Read More

Neuropsychopharmacology 2015 Oct 21;40(11):2639-47. Epub 2015 Apr 21.

Instituto de Neurociencias, Universidad Miguel Hernández-CSIC, Alicante, Spain.

The endocannabinoid system has been widely involved in the pathophysiology of sensorimotor gating deficits. This study aimed to evaluate the pharmacological modulation of the sensorimotor gating impairment induced by cannabinoid CB1 receptor (CB1r) deletion. For this purpose, the prepulse inhibition (PPI) paradigm was used to evaluate the effect of two antipsychotics drugs (risperidone and haloperidol) and a psychostimulant (methylphenidate) on the preattentional deficit presented by CB1KO mice. Read More