901C Poster - 14. Neural circuits and behavior
Saturday April 09, 1:30 PM - 3:30 PM

The Effect of Cannabidiol on Central Nervous System Development and Function using Drosophila as a Model System


Authors:
Cameron Lowery; Annika Fischer; Parag Bhatt; Sandra Leal

Affiliation: Harris-Stowe State University

Keywords:
l. locomotion/flight; m. CNS

Cannabidiol, or (CBD), is a non-psychoactive cannabinoid found in Cannabis sativa. While cannabidiol is used by individuals of all ages, little is known about its short and long-term neurological impact on the central nervous system (CNS) or function and development. For this reason, we sought to determine whether CBD oil affects one or more basic behavioral outcomes of the CNS using Drosophila as a model system. Several major neurotransmitter systems of Drosophila share high conservation with mammalian systems. We assayed three distinct behaviors of Oregon-R wild-type, third-instar larvae under acute (24-hour) and chronic (48-hour) CBD exposure. These behaviors included body wall contractions (BWC), mouth hook contractions (MHC), and the righting reflex (RR). We found that CBD oil differentially affected motor circuits regulating larval MHCs under specific experimental conditions. Acute pretreatment of larvae with 0.5 mg/mL CBD oil significantly reduced larval locomotor behavior but had no significant effect on larval feeding behavior. Conversely, 1.0 mg/mL CBD decreased third-instar larval feeding rates. In comparison to all control group animals, the majority of which righted within 5 seconds or less, the latency of animals righting within the passing score parameters increased for several populations of acute and chronic CBD-treated animals. Since we observed the effects of CBD oil treatment on motor behaviors, we examined neurotransmitter expression levels of tyrosine-hydroxylase (TH) in larval brains exposed to 3.0 mg/mL of CBD. There was no change in the expression level of TH. However, preliminary data suggest an increase in glial cell populations in the brainstem. In conclusion, these studies confirm that CBD is affecting CNS function and development, using a simple model system.