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On the Importance of the Endocannabinoid System
No, it’s not only affected by cannabis use (or lack thereof)
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The endocannabinoid system, or ECS, was a relatively recent discovery: in 1998, scientists at the St. Louis University Medical School determined that a rat’s brain has receptor sites — specialized protein molecules that are embedded in cell membranes — that are activated by THC. These cannabinoid receptors were dubbed “CB1.” CB1 receptors are located in the brain, but also in the central nervous system, and to a lesser degree, the gut, the skin, and other various internal organs. All animals with a spinal cord have CB1 receptors. Importantly, though the endocannabinoid system was first understood through the study of cannabis, it predates the plant by hundreds of millions of years; the ECS, we have learned, is affected by both endogenous and exogenous compounds, by lifestyle and stressors, and by genetics.
The discovery of CB1 receptors led scientists to search for an endogenous compound like THC that would trigger these receptors. In 1992, as described in Project CBD, “a trio of researchers at Hebrew University in Jerusalem — Raphael Mechoulam, William Devane, and Lumir Hanus — isolated a novel lipid neurotransmitter that binds with the CB1 receptor in pig brain tissue. They called it “anandamide,” Sanskrit…
