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The effects of acute cannabidiol on cerebral blood flow and its relationship to memory : An arterial spin labelling magnetic resonance imaging study
Bloomfield, Michael A. P. Green, Sebastian F. Hindocha, Chandni Yamamori, Yumeya Yim, Jocelyn Lok Ling Jones, Augustus P. M. Walker, Hannah R. Tokarczuk, Pawel Statton, Ben Howes, Oliver D.
Bloomfield, Michael A. P.
Green, Sebastian F.
Hindocha, Chandni
Yamamori, Yumeya
Yim, Jocelyn Lok Ling
Jones, Augustus P. M.
Walker, Hannah R.
Tokarczuk, Pawel
Statton, Ben
Howes, Oliver D.
Abstract
Background:
Cannabidiol (CBD) is being investigated as a potential treatment for several medical indications, many of which are characterised by altered memory processing. However, the mechanisms underlying these effects are unclear.
Aims:
Our primary aim was to investigate how CBD influences cerebral blood flow (CBF) in regions involved in memory processing. Our secondary aim was to determine if the effects of CBD on CBF were associated with differences in working and episodic memory task performance.
Methods:
We used a randomised, crossover, double-blind design in which 15 healthy participants were administered 600 mg oral CBD or placebo on separate days. We measured regional CBF at rest using arterial spin labelling 3 h after drug ingestion. We assessed working memory with the digit span (forward, backward) and n-back (0-back, 1-back, 2-back) tasks, and we used a prose recall task (immediate and delayed) to assess episodic memory.
Results:
CBD increased CBF in the hippocampus (mean (95% confidence intervals) = 15.00 (5.78–24.21) mL/100 g/min, t14 = 3.489, Cohen’s d = 0.75, p = 0.004). There were no differences in memory task performance, but there was a significant correlation whereby greater CBD-induced increases in orbitofrontal CBF were associated with reduced reaction time on the 2-back working memory task ( r= −0.73, p = 0.005).
Conclusions:
These findings suggest that CBD increases CBF to key regions involved in memory processing, particularly the hippocampus. These results identify potential mechanisms of CBD for a range of conditions associated with altered memory processing, including Alzheimer’s disease, schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder and cannabis-use disorders.
Keywords
ASL, cannabidiol, hippocampus, memory, MRI, perfusion
Date
2020
Type
Journal article
Journal
Journal of Psychopharmacology
Book
Volume
34
Issue
9
Page Range
981-989
Article Number
ACU Department
School of Behavioural and Health Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
Relation URI
Source URL
Event URL
Open Access Status
Published as ‘gold’ (paid) open access
License
CC BY 4.0
File Access
Open