Cannabinoids and morphine: a winning combination?
Researchers at the University of Philadelphia in the United States have sought to determine whether the combination of a cannabinoid with an opioid could produce additive or synergistic effects on pain.
Opioids and cannabinoids react together.
The rise in opioid use is largely due to the abuse of prescription opioid medications, which promotes addiction. The purpose of this study is to determine whether the combination of a cannabinoid and an opioid could generate additive or synergistic effects on pain, thereby allowing for maximum analgesia. It has been proven that cannabinoids can contribute to reducing the use of morphine.
In a study conducted at the Addiction Research Center, Department of Pharmacology, University of Philadelphia, USA on animal subjects (mice), cannabinoids demonstrated an additive or synergistic effect on analgesia when combined with morphine. This effect varies depending on the intensity of the pain and can be mediated by CB1 or CB2 receptors.
Here, morphine and two synthetic cannabinoids that bind to CB1 and CB2 receptors were tested.
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In the formalin test, morphine in combination with cannabinoids resulted in synergistic analgesia. Studies with selective antagonists have shown that these cannabinoids react due to the CB1 receptor.
Morphine in combination with another cannabinoid in the formalin test was sub-additive. This second synthetic cannabinoid with morphine, in the carrageenan test, showed increased analgesia.
It is observed that both cannabinoids have analgesic activity in the formalin test, which is not the case in the carrageenan test.
These findings suggest that the use of cannabinoids could help reduce the dose of opioids for analgesia under certain conditions and for different forms of pain.
The ability of a cannabinoid to produce an additive or synergistic effect on analgesia, when combined with morphine, varies depending on its dosage and can be mediated by CB1 or CB2 receptors.
