Cannabidiol regulates behavioral and brain alterations induced by spontaneous alcohol withdrawal

Effects of cannabidiol, with and without ∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol, on anxiety-like behavior following alcohol withdrawal in mice

“…This contradiction may be due to the extra variable of alcohol withdrawal, as to our knowledge, no previous studies have examined the role of CBD on alcohol withdrawal-induced anxiety using the vapor alcohol administration model. Other work ( Gasparyan et al, 2023 ) shows that: (1) 40 mg/kg CBD can reduce anxiety-like behaviors in the light–dark test at a 6-h spontaneous withdrawal timepoint following 15 days of increasing alcohol concentrations via oral gavage; (2) repeated 60 mg/kg CBD treatments can ameliorate social stress coping in the resident-intruder paradigm following adolescent alcohol exposure and withdrawal and promotes synaptic plasticity in the nucleus accumbens in rats after oral gavage ( Brancato et al, 2023 ), and (3) repeated 15-30 mg/kg CBD can reduce context- and stress-induced reinstatement of alcohol seeking and increase time in the open arms of an elevated plus maze in rats after oral self-administration ( Gonzalez-Cuevas et al, 2018 ). Overall, more studies are needed to explore the mechanisms underlying these effects of CBD in the context of alcohol withdrawal-induced anxiety and in multiple models of alcohol exposure.…”

“…Additionally, studies have shown that alcohol withdrawal induces changes in endocannabinoid mRNA expression in a sex-dependent manner in various brain regions, including the basolateral amygdala and the ventromedial prefrontal cortex ( Henricks et al, 2017 ). A recent study explored the effect of varying doses of CBD on alcohol withdrawal symptoms and saw a reduction in anxiety-like symptoms at a high dose (40 mg/kg; Gasparyan et al, 2023 ). It is worth noting that most people who use cannabis often use mixtures of CBD and THC, even if the product they are using is advertised as having only CBD or only THC ( Chandra et al, 2017 ).…”

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“…This contradiction may be due to the extra variable of alcohol withdrawal, as to our knowledge, no previous studies have examined the role of CBD on alcohol withdrawal-induced anxiety using the vapor alcohol administration model. Other work (Gasparyan et al, 2023) shows that: (1) 40 mg/kg CBD can reduce anxiety-like behaviors in the light-dark test at a 6-h spontaneous withdrawal timepoint following 15 days of increasing alcohol concentrations via oral gavage; (2) repeated 60 mg/kg CBD treatments can ameliorate social stress coping in the resident-intruder paradigm following adolescent alcohol exposure and withdrawal and promotes synaptic plasticity in the nucleus accumbens in rats after oral gavage (Brancato et al, 2023), and (3) repeated 15-30 mg/kg CBD can reduce context-and stress-induced reinstatement of alcohol seeking and increase time in the open arms of an elevated plus maze in rats after oral self-administration (Gonzalez-Cuevas et al, 2018). Overall, more studies are needed to explore the mechanisms underlying these effects of CBD in the context of alcohol withdrawalinduced anxiety and in multiple models of alcohol exposure.…”