A single dose of cannabidiol (CBD) helped increase blood flow to the hippocampus, an important area of the brain associated with memory and emotion. In the study, published in the Journal of Psychopharmacology, researchers set out to investigate how CBD influences cerebral blood flow in different regions on the brain involved in memory processing. For the randomized controlled study, 15 healthy young adult participants, with little or no history of cannabis use were selected. Each participant was given a 600 mg of oral CBD or a placebo. The doses came in identical capsules, so participants didn’t know which one they were taking on which occasion. Researchers measured blood flow to the hippocampus using ‘arterial spin labeling’ – a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scanning technique which measures changes in the blood oxygen levels.
CBD significantly increased blood flow in the hippocampus.In the prefrontal cortex, the area of the brain used for planning and decision making, CBD caused a significant increase in blood flow in the orbitofrontal cortex.”This supports the view that CBD has region-specific blood flow effects in the human”If replicated, these results could lead to further research across a range of conditions characterized by changes in how the brain processes memories, including Alzheimer’s disease, where there are defects in the control of blood control flow, along with schizophrenia and post-traumatic stress disorder.”
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