Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2019 Dec 17;24(24):4626.
doi: 10.3390/molecules24244626.

Endocannabinoid System in the Airways

Turgut Emrah Bozkurt  1
Affiliations
Review

Endocannabinoid System in the Airways

Turgut Emrah Bozkurt. Molecules. .

Abstract

Cannabinoids and the mammalian endocannabinoid system is an important research area of interest and attracted many researchers because of their widespread biological effects. The significant immune-modulatory role of cannabinoids has suggested their therapeutic use in several inflammatory conditions. Airways are prone to environmental irritants and stimulants, and increased inflammation is an important process in most of the respiratory diseases. Therefore, the main strategies for treating airway diseases are suppression of inflammation and producing bronchodilation. The ability of cannabinoids to induce bronchodilation and modify inflammation indicates their importance for airway physiology and pathologies. In this review, the contribution of cannabinoids and the endocannabinoid system in the airways are discussed, and the existing data for their therapeutic use in airway diseases are presented.

Keywords: airway; cannabinoid receptor; cannabinoids; endocannabinoids; fatty acid amide hydrolase; monoacylglycerol lipase.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The author declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The localization CB receptors and their reported effects in the airways. (ASMC: Airway smooth muscle cell; Eos: Eosinophil; DC: Dendritic cell; Mono: Monocyte; Neu: Neutrophil; MC: Mast cell; Mac: Macrophage; Ag: Antigen; Ab: Antibody). The receptors in bold characters represent a denser expression in that cell type.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Gaoni Y., Mechoulam R. Isolation, Structure, and Partial Synthesis of an Active Constituent of Hashish. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 1964;86:1646–1647. doi: 10.1021/ja01062a046. - DOI
    1. Devane W.A., Hanus L., Breuer A., Pertwee R.G., Stevenson L.A., Griffin G., Gibson D., Mandelbaum A., Etinger A., Mechoulam R. Isolation and structure of a brain constituent that binds to the cannabinoid receptor. Science (NY) 1992;258:1946–1949. doi: 10.1126/science.1470919. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Mechoulam R., Ben-Shabat S., Hanus L., Ligumsky M., Kaminski N.E., Schatz A.R., Gopher A., Almog S., Martin B.R., Compton D.R., et al. Identification of an endogenous 2-monoglyceride, present in canine gut, that binds to cannabinoid receptors. Biochem. Pharm. 1995;50:83–90. doi: 10.1016/0006-2952(95)00109-D. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Izzo A.A., Camilleri M. Emerging role of cannabinoids in gastrointestinal and liver diseases: Basic and clinical aspects. Gut. 2008;57:1140–1155. doi: 10.1136/gut.2008.148791. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Di Marzo V., Fontana A. Anandamide, an endogenous cannabinomimetic eicosanoid: ’killing two birds with one stone’. Prostaglandinsleukot. Essent. Fat. Acids. 1995;53:1–11. doi: 10.1016/0952-3278(95)90077-2. - DOI - PubMed

MeSH terms

LinkOut - more resources