New way to boost potency of natural pain relief chemical in body

November 21, 2011

Science Daily/University of California - Irvine

UC Irvine and Italian researchers have discovered a new means of enhancing the effects of anandamide -- a natural, marijuana-like chemical in the body that provides pain relief.

Led by Daniele Piomelli, UCI's Louise Turner Arnold Chair in the Neurosciences, the team identified an "escort" protein in brain cells that transports anandamide to sites within the cell where enzymes break it down. They found that blocking this protein -- called FLAT -- increases anandamide's potency.

Previous work by the researchers indicates that compounds boosting anandamide's natural abilities could form the basis of pain medications that don't produce sedation, addiction or other central nervous system side effects common with existing painkillers, such as opiates.

"These findings raise hope that the analgesic properties of marijuana can be harnessed for new, safe drugs," said Piomelli, a professor of pharmacology. "Specific drug compounds we are creating that amplify the actions of natural, marijuana-like chemicals are showing great promise."

For the study, which appears in the Nov. 20 online version of Nature Neuroscience, he and his colleagues used computational methods to understand how FLAT binds with anandamide and escorts it to cell sites to be degraded by fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH) enzymes.

Anandamide has been dubbed "the bliss molecule" for its similarities to the active ingredient in marijuana. A neurotransmitter that's part of the body's endocannabinoid system, it's been shown in studies by Piomelli and others to play analgesic, antianxiety and antidepressant roles. It's also important in regulating food consumption. Blocking FAAH activity enhances several effects of anandamide without generating the "high" seen with marijuana.

Piomelli and his collaborators speculate that inhibiting FLAT (FAAH-like anandamide transporters) might be particularly useful in controlling certain forms of pain -- that caused by damage to the central nervous system, for example -- and curbing addiction to such drugs as nicotine and cocaine.

Researchers from UCI, Italy's University of Parma and University of Bologna, and the Italian Institute of Technology participated in the study, which was supported by grants from the U.S. National Institute on Drug Abuse, the U.S. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse & Alcoholism, and the U.S. National Institute of General Medical Sciences.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/11/111121142501.htm

Compound boosts marijuana-like chemical in the body to relieve pain at injury site

September 21, 2010

Science Daily/University of California -- Irvine

American and Italian researchers have found that a novel drug allows anandamide -- a marijuana-like chemical in the body -- to effectively control pain at the site of an injury.

Led by Daniele Piomelli, the Louise Turner Arnold Chair in Neurosciences and director of the Center for Drug Discovery at UC Irvine, the study suggests that such compounds could form the basis of pain medications that don't produce sedation, addiction or other central nervous system side effects common with existing painkillers, such as opiates.

"These findings raise hope that the analgesic properties of marijuana can be harnessed to curb pain," Piomelli said. "Marijuana itself is sometimes used in clinical settings for pain relief but causes many unwanted effects. However, specific drugs that amplify the actions of natural, marijuana-like chemicals are showing great promise."

For the study, which appears in the Sept. 19 online version of Nature Neuroscience, rats and mice were given a drug created by Piomelli and colleagues at the Italian universities of Urbino and Parma. The researchers discovered that the compound, URB937, did not enter the central nervous system but simply boosted the levels of anandamide in peripheral tissues. Still, it produced a profound analgesic effect for both acute and chronic pain. This was surprising, since anandamide had been thought to only work in the brain.

The synthetic drug inhibits FAAH, an enzyme in the body that breaks down anandamide, dubbed "the bliss molecule" for its similarities to the active ingredient in marijuana. A neurotransmitter that's part of the endocannabinoid system, anandamide has been shown in studies by Piomelli and others to play analgesic, antianxiety and antidepressant roles. It's also important in regulating food consumption. Blocking FAAH activity enhances the effects of anandamide without generating the "high" seen with marijuana.

Piomelli and his team are now collaborating with drug discovery specialists at the Italian Institute of Technology, in Genoa, to develop the new compound -- which is protected by a patent application -- into a clinically useful medication.

Researchers from UCI, the University of Georgia, the University of Naples, the University of Parma, the University of Urbino and the Italian Institute of Technology participated in the study, which was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse and the Italian Ministry of Public Education.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100920131140.htm

Discovery of Mechanism that Processes 'THC' Type Brain Compound May Lead to New Medicines for Pain, Addiction

March 31, 2009

Science Daily/Stony Brook University Medical Center

Dale Deutsch, Ph.D., Professor of Biochemistry and Cell Biology at Stony Brook University and colleagues discovered a new molecular mechanism for the processing of endocannabinoids, brain compounds similar to THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, and essential in physiological processes such as pain, appetite, and memory.

Reported online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), the finding could pave the way for new medicines for pain, addiction, appetite control and other disorders.

Dr. Deutsch and colleagues in the Departments of Biochemistry and Cell Biology (Martin Kaczocha) and Neurobiology and Behavior (Sherrye Glaser, Ph.D.) are the first to successfully identify two known fatty acid binding proteins (FABPs) that carry the endocannabinoid anandamide (AEA), a neurotransmitter, from the cell membrane to interior of the cell where it is destroyed. This identification enabled the research team to inhibit FABPs in various laboratory experiments and thereby reduce AEA breakdown inside cells. In their study, “Identification of intracellular carriers for the endocannabinoid anandamide,” the researchers report that they decreased the breakdown of AEA in some instances by approximately 50 percent.

“Inhibiting FABPs could potentially raise the levels of AEA in the brain’s synapses,” says Dr. Deutsch. “Naturally occurring AEA levels have been shown to curb pain without the negative side effects, such as motor coordination problems, from molecules like THC. Therefore, it makes sense to target AEA for therapeutic purposes.”

He emphasizes that their groundbreaking discovery of the role of FABPs in transporting this class of neurotransmitters may prove to be a crucial step in developing novel drug targets for endocannabinoids by way of inhibiting FABPs. In support of the research, The State University of New York (SUNY) Stony Brook Office of Technology Licensing and Industry Relations (OTLIR) has filed U.S. Patent applications comprising the discovery.

The OTLIR manages all intellectual property matters for the SUNY Research Foundation. In actively marketing this unlicensed technology created by Dr. Deutsch, the Stony Brook OTLIR welcomes commercial entities interested in partnering with the University. The licensing agent for the project is Adam DeRosa of the OTLIR.

The breakdown of AEA requires two factors. First, there needs to be a mechanism for transporting AEA to the location where it is inactivated because AEA is a fatty compound and thus unable to move inside the watery cellular environment. Second, the cell must express an enzyme called FAAH, which controls the breakdown and inactivation of AEA. In the laboratory, the researchers coaxed a nonneuronal cell type (COS-7) to express FAAH. These FAAH-expressing COS-7 cells were able to break down AED efficiently, indicating that the intracellular AEA transport mechanism was already present and operation in these cells. The researchers identified these carriers as two separate FABPs.

Dr. Deutsch believes that because a transporter for the AEA class of neurotrasmitters had never been discovered until the Stony Brook findings, continued research may explain many unanswered questions about AEA. Future research may uncover more knowledge about AEA transport, as well as the entire role these neurotransmitters play in pain, inflammation, appetite control, addiction, and perhaps other physiological processes related to many human disorders.

The research was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090325190342.htm

Marijuana-like Brain Chemicals Work as Antidepressant

November 7, 2007

Science Daily/University of California - Irvine

American and Italian researchers have found that boosting the amounts of a marijuana-like brain transmitter called anandamide produces antidepressant effects in test rats.

Led by Daniele Piomelli, the Louise Turner Arnold Chair in Neurosciences and director of the Center for Drug Discovery at the University of California, Irvine, the researchers used a drug they created, called URB597, which blocks anandamide degradation in the brain, thereby increasing the levels of this chemical.

“These findings raise the hope that the mood-elevating properties of marijuana can be harnessed to treat depression,” Piomelli said. “Marijuana itself has shown no clinical use for depression. However, specific drugs that amplify the actions of natural marijuana-like transmitters in the brain are showing great promise.”

The researchers administered URB597 to chronically stressed rats which showed behaviors similar to those seen in depressed human patients. After five weeks of treatment, the stressed rats treated with the drug were behaving similarly to a comparison group of unstressed animals. 

URB597 works by inhibiting FAAH, an enzyme in the body that breaks down anandamide.  Dubbed “the bliss molecule” for its similarities to the active ingredient in marijuana, anandamide is a neurotransmitter that is part of the brain’s endocannabinoid system and it has been shown in studies by Piomelli and others to play analgesic, anti-anxiety and antidepressant roles. It also is involved in regulating feeding and obesity. Blocking FAAH activity boosts the effects of anandamide without producing the “high” seen with marijuana.

Piomelli and colleagues at the Universities of Urbino and Parma in Italy created URB597. A patent was issued in 2007. The European pharmaceutical company Organon holds the license to the patent and will begin clinical studies on the drug in 2008, according to Piomelli.

Marco Bortolato, Regina Mangieri, Jin Fu, Janet Kim and Oliver Arguello of UC Irvine; Andrea Duranti, Andrea Tontini and Giorgio Tarzia of the University of Urbino; and Marco Mor of the University of Parma also participated in the study. It was supported by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the University of California Discovery Program and the National Alliance for Research on Schizophrenia and Depression.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/11/071105120556.htm

How Do You Solve Relief -- Structure Of Pain-Modulating Enzyme Described By Scripps Scientists

Science Daily/November 29, 2002

The Scripps Research Institute

A group of researchers from The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have solved the structure of an enzyme that modulates central nervous system (CNS) functions such as pain perception, cognition, feeding, sleep, and locomotor activity.

The enzyme, described in the latest issue of the journal Science, is called fatty acid amide hydrolase (FAAH), and it breaks down certain fatty signaling molecules that reside in the lipid membranes of CNS cells. The TSRI group reports that FAAH modulates the action of these fatty signaling molecules through an unusual mechanism of action whereby it scoops them out of the cell membranes and chews them up.

"I envision that if someone could make a specific inhibitor to FAAH, you could, in principal, get pain relief without any of the side effects," says Benjamin Cravatt, one of the paper’s lead authors and an investigator in TSRI's Department of Cell Biology, Department of Chemistry, and The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology.

"As soon as we had the view of the active site, we knew FAAH could be used to make lead clinical candidates," adds Raymond Stevens, who is a professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Chemistry at TSRI and the other lead author on the paper. "The deep pocket with well-defined cavities provides the guidance to take the currently available tight binding inhibitors and improve on their specificity and pharmakokinetic properties."

Pain Management and FAAH

Easing pain is practically synonymous with practicing medicine, and since before the days of Hippocrates, doctors have sought the best ways of doing this--looking for compounds that not only ease pain, but do so as fast, effectively, and lastingly as possible--and without any unwanted side effects.

Every analgesic, from opiates to hypnotism to electroshocks to balms, have side effects, and therein lies the rub: whether relieving the pain or the side effects is more pressing.

One compound that has been hotly debated in the last 10 years is delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in marijuana. The reason THC works is that it mimics the action of natural cannabinoids that the body produces in signaling cascades in response to a peripheral pain stimulus. THC binds to "CB-1" receptors on cells on the rostral ventromedial medulla, a pain-modulating center of the brain, decreasing sensitivity to pain.

Unfortunately, the receptors that THC bind to are also widely expressed in other parts of the brain, such as in the memory and information-processing centers of the hippocampus. Binding to nerve cells of the hippocampus and other cells elsewhere in the body, THC creates a range of side effects as it activates CB-1 mediated signaling--including distorted perception, difficulty in problem-solving, loss of coordination, and increased heart rate and blood pressure, anxiety, and panic attacks.

The challenge posed by THC and other cannabinoids is to find a way to use them to produce effective, long-lasting relief from pain without the deleterious side effects. Now Cravatt and Stevens think they know just how to do that.

The solution, as they see it, is to increase the efficacy of the natural, endogenous cannabinoids ("endocannabinoids") the body produces to modulate pain sensations.

"When you feel pain, you release endocannabinoids [which provide some natural pain relief]," says Cravatt. "Then the amplitude and duration of their activity are regulated by how fast they are broken down."

In particular, the body releases an endogenous cannabinoid called anandamide, a name derived from the Sanskrit word meaning "internal bliss." When the body senses pain, anandamide binds to CB-1 and nullifies pain by blocking the signaling. However, this effect is weak and short-lived as FAAH quickly metabolizes the anandamide--the compound has a half-life of only a few minutes in vivo.

In some ways, THC is superior to anandamide as a pain reliever because it is not as readily metabolized by FAAH. But THC goes on to suppress cannabinoid receptor activity all over the body. This, coupled with the fact that it is a controlled substance, makes THC an unattractive target for developing therapeutics.

FAAH is much more attractive target for pain therapy because by inhibiting FAAH, you would increase the longevity of anandamide molecules--preventing their breakdown and allowing them to continue providing some natural pain relief.

The structure that Cravatt, Stevens, and their TSRI colleagues solved should form a template for designing specific inhibitors that control the action of FAAH when the body is sensing pain and releasing anandamide.

The research article, "Structural Adaptations in a Membrane Enzyme that Terminates Endocannabinoid Signaling" is authored by Michael H. Bracey, Michael A. Hanson, Kim R. Masuda, Raymond C. Stevens, and Benjamin F. Cravatt, and appears in the November 29, 2002 issue of the journal Science.

The research was funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse, the Searle Scholars Program, The Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, a National Research Service Award, and a Jabinson graduate fellowship.

https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2002/11/021127072047.htm