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Journal of Psychopharmacology http://jop.sagepub.com/ Neural basis of anxiolytic effects of cannabidiol (CBD) in generalized social anxiety disorder: a preliminary report José Alexandre S Crippa, Guilherme Nogueira Derenusson, Thiago Borduqui Ferrari, Lauro Wichert-Ana, Fábio Duran, Roci•o Marti•n-Santos, Marcus Vinícius Simões, Sagnik Bhattacharyya, Paolo Fusar-Poli, Zerrin Atakan, Alaor Santos Filho, Maria Cecí•lia Freitas-Ferrari, Phillip McGuire, Antonio Waldo Zuardi, Geraldo Busatto and Jaime Eduardo Cecílio Hallak J Psychopharmacol published online 9 September 2010 DOI: 10.1177/0269881110379283 The online version of this article can be found at: http://jop.sagepub.com/content/early/2010/09/08/0269881110379283 Published by: http://www.sagepublications.com On behalf of: British Association for Psychopharmacology Additional services and information for Journal of Psychopharmacology can be found at: Email Alerts: http://jop.sagepub.com/cgi/alerts Subscriptions: http://jop.sagepub.com/subscriptions Reprints: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsReprints.nav Permissions: http://www.sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav Downloaded from jop.sagepub.com at UNIV DE SAO PAULO BIBLIOTECA on September 13, 2010 J Psychopharmacol OnlineFirst, published on September 9, 2010 as doi:10.1177/0269881110379283 Original Paper Neural basis of anxiolytic effects of cannabidiol (CBD) in generalized social Journal of Psychopharmacology anxiety disorder: a preliminary report 0(0) 1–10 ! The Author(s) 2010 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.co.uk/journalsPermissions.nav 1,2 1,2 DOI: 10.1177/0269881110379283 Jose´ Alexandre S Crippa , Guilherme Nogueira Derenusson , jop.sagepub.com Thiago Borduqui Ferrari1,2, Lauro Wichert-Ana3,Fa´bio LS Duran4, Rocio Martin-Santos2,5, Marcus Vinı´cius Simo˜es3,6, Sagnik Bhattacharyya5, Paolo Fusar-Poli5, Zerrin Atakan5, Alaor Santos Filho1,2, Maria Cecı´lia Freitas-Ferrari1,2, Philip K McGuire2,5, Antonio Waldo Zuardi1,2, Geraldo F Busatto4 and Jaime Eduardo Cecı´lio Hallak1,2 Abstract Animal and human studies indicate that cannabidiol (CBD), a major constituent of cannabis, has anxiolytic properties. However, no study to date has investigated the effects of this compound on human pathological anxiety and its underlying brain mechanisms. The aim of the present study was to investigate this in patients with generalized social anxiety disorder (SAD) using functional neuroimaging. Regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF) at rest was measured twice using (99m)Tc-ECD SPECT in 10 treatment-naı¨ve patients with SAD. In the first session, subjects were given an oral dose of CBD (400 mg) or placebo, in a double-blind procedure. In the second session, the same procedure was performed using the drug that had not been administered in the previous session. Within-subject between-condition rCBF comparisons were performed using statistical parametric mapping. Relative to placebo, CBD was associated with significantly decreased subjective anxiety (p < 0.001), reduced ECD uptake in the left parahippocampal gyrus, hippocampus, and inferior temporal gyrus (p < 0.001, uncorrected), and increased ECD uptake in the right posterior cingulate gyrus (p < 0.001, uncorrected). These results suggest that CBD reduces anxiety in SAD and that this is related to its effects on activity in limbic and paralimbic brain areas. Keywords Cannabidiol, CBD, social anxiety, regional cerebral blood flow, SPECT Introduction Generalized Social Anxiety Disorder (SAD) is one of the most common and impairing anxiety conditions. However, 1Departments of Neurosciences and Behavior, Division of Psychiatry, the pharmacological treatment of SAD remains problematic University of Sa˜o Paulo, Brazil. since it is poorly controlled by the currently available drugs, 2NCT Translational Medicine. with only about 30% of the subjects achieving true recovery 3Division of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine of Ribeira˜o Preto, University or remission (Blanco et al., 2002). Therefore, there is a clear of Sa˜o Paulo, Brazil. need to develop and explore novel therapeutic agents for the 4Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, University of Sa˜o Paulo, management of SAD. Brazil. Although it is well recognized that cannabis use can cause 5Department of Psychological Medicine, Section of Neuroimaging, adverse effects, including anxiety, there is consistent evidence Institute of Psychiatry, University of London, UK. 6 that many individuals use the drug to obtain relief from anx- Medical Clinic, Faculty of Medicine of Ribeira˜o Preto, University of Sa˜o iety symptoms (Crippa et al., 2009). Moreover, it has been Paulo, Brazil. suggested that individuals with SAD are more likely to use Corresponding author: cannabis than those with other anxiety disorders to ‘self-med- Jose´ Alexandre S Crippa, MD, PhD, Department of Neurosciences and icate’ anxiety reactions (Buckner et al., 2008). These appar- Behavior, Division of Psychiatry; Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeira˜o ently conflicting statements may partly reflect the fact that Preto; Universidade de Sa˜o Paulo, Hospital das Clı´nicas - Terceiro Andar; 9 low doses of the best-known constituent of the plant, Á -tet- Av. Bandeirantes, 3900; Ribeira˜o Preto, Sa˜o Paulo, Brazil rahydrocannabinol (Á9-THC), have anxiolytic-like effects, Email: [email protected] Downloaded from jop.sagepub.com at UNIV DE SAO PAULO BIBLIOTECA on September 13, 2010 2 Journal of Psychopharmacology 0(0) whereas higher doses produce anxiogenic reactions (Crippa scale, with a maximum total score of 68. Criterion validity et al., 2010; Fusar-Poli et al., 2009; Viveros et al., 2005). revealed excellent sensitivity and specificity for a cut-off score In addition, Cannabis sativa contains multiple compounds of 19. Other psychometric properties of both BSPS and SPIN which may have different psychoactive properties (Zuardi et al., have been consistently considered adequate in different stud- 2006). In particular, cannabidiol (CBD), one major non- ies and cultures. psychotomimetic compound from the Cannabis sativa plant, All subjects had total scores higher than 52 on the SPIN and has shown anxiolytic effects both in animals and in human higher than 54 on the BSPS, thus classified as suffering from studies (Zuardi et al., 1993b; Zuardi et al., 2006). Using func- severe social phobia. Their mean weight ranged between tional neuroimaging in healthy volunteers, we have recently 65–91 kg and their body mass index ranged between 21– observed that CBD has anxiolytic properties and that these 25 kg/m2. They were included into the study if they did not effects are associated with an action on limbic and paralimbic have a history of head trauma, neurological illness, electrocon- brain areas (Crippa et al., 2004; Fusar-Poli et al., 2009). vulsive therapy, current or previous drug/alcohol use or abuse We have thus hypothesized that CBD may be effective in or major medical illnesses, and had not received any medica- SAD. However, no study to date has investigated the effects of tion for at least 3 months before the study (Mathew et al., CBD on human pathological anxiety and its underlying brain 1992), based on a semi-standardized questionnaire and physi- mechanisms. Therefore, in the present study, we applied func- cal examination. All were non-smokers (tobacco), had not tional neuroimaging to investigate the neurophysiological used marijuana more than five times in their lifetime, with no basis of the effects of CBD in patients with SAD. Based on use in the past year. None had ever used any other illicit drug. previous Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography Although no urine or blood tests were given to ensure absence (SPECT) (Crippa et al., 2004) and functional Magnetic of marijuana use, we have assessed past and current use of this Resonance Imaging (fMRI) (Fusar-Poli et al., 2009) studies or other illicit drugs use by means of a semi-structured ques- of CBD effects, we predicted that, relative to placebo, CBD tionnaire and the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) (McLellan would reduce anxiety in subjects with SAD and that this effect et al., 1980). No subject had previously undergone SPECT or would be associated with the modulation of the functional other nuclear medicine procedures. Clinical and demographic activity of temporo-limbic structures (amygdala-hippocampus information of the patient sample are shown in Table 1. All complex and parahippocampal gyrus) and paralimbic regions, subjects gave written informed consent after being fully including the cingulate cortex. To the best of our knowledge, informed of the research procedure, following approval by this is the first study to directly investigate the neural and/or the local ethical committee (HCRP No. 11559/04). behavioral effects of CBD in patients with an anxiety disorder. Drug Methods CBD (400 mg) approximately 99.9% pure (THC-Pharm; Subjects Frankfurt, Germany) was dissolved in corn oil. The same amount of corn oil was used as placebo. The drug and pla- Ten right-handed men with generalized SAD, recruited from cebo were packed inside identical gelatin capsules. Previous an epidemiological sample of 2320 university students, were studies showed that the plasma peak of an oral dose of CBD selected by the screening procedure described elsewhere usually occurs 1–2 h after ingestion (Agurell et al., 1981; (Crippa et al., 2008; De Lima Oso´rio et al., 2007). They had Borgwardt et al., 2008; Fusar-Poli et al., 2009). the SAD diagnosis confirmed by the SCID for the DSM-IV. Participants were aged between 20 and 33 years (mean age 24.2 years; SD 3.7), were treatment-naı¨ve and did not have Self-rating scale for subjective states during any comorbid psychiatric disorders. Their mean age of onset the SPECT imaging procedure of illness was 9.1 years (SD 1.53), and the mean illness dura- tion was 14.8 years (SD 3.12). Subjective states were evaluated by mean of the Visual Severity of SAD was assessed with the Portuguese version Analogue Mood Scale (VAMS) of Norris (1971), translated (Oso´rio et al., 2006, 2010) of the Brief Social Phobia Scale into Portuguese (Zuardi and Karniol, 1981). In this scale, (BSPS) (Davidson, et al., 1991) and using the Portuguese version (Oso´rio et al., 2009) of the Social Phobia Inventory (SPIN) (Connor et al., 2000).