A preliminary investigation of tobacco co-use on endocannabinoid activity in people with cannabis use
Tobacco is commonly co-used with cannabis. This is unfortunate because tobacco co-use exacerbates select clinical consequences associated with cannabis use. Evidence demonstrates that low levels of anandamide, a prominent endocannabinoid, correlate with worse clinical outcomes. Fatty acid amide hydr...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2025-09-01
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| Series: | Drug and Alcohol Dependence Reports |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772724625000526 |
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| Summary: | Tobacco is commonly co-used with cannabis. This is unfortunate because tobacco co-use exacerbates select clinical consequences associated with cannabis use. Evidence demonstrates that low levels of anandamide, a prominent endocannabinoid, correlate with worse clinical outcomes. Fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) degrades anandamide, and greater FAAH levels may underlie poorer clinical outcomes in people who co-use relative to those who use only cannabis. Therefore, we tested whether tobacco co-use increases FAAH levels beyond those associated with cannabis use alone. Cannabis-using participants (N = 13) were parsed into individuals with daily tobacco use (CT, n = 5) and no current tobacco use (CAN, n = 8). We evaluated group differences in FAAH, quantified using positron emission tomography and [11C]CURB, while controlling for sex and FAAH genotype in the prefrontal cortex, hippocampus, thalamus, sensorimotor striatum, substantia nigra, and cerebellum. A significant group x ROI interaction for [11C]CURB λk3 [F(5, 45)= 3.15, p = 0.016] emerged. Bonferroni-corrected post-hoc tests indicated greater FAAH levels in CT compared to CAN in the substantia nigra (p = 0.023, d=1.54) and cerebellum (p = 0.003, d=1.76), while a trend emerged in the sensorimotor striatum (p = 0.054, d=1.33). Preliminary findings suggest that tobacco co-use is associated with elevated FAAH activity relative to cannabis-only use, which may underlie poorer clinical outcomes associated with co-use. |
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| ISSN: | 2772-7246 |