Discussion

Cannabinoids remove plaque-forming Alzheimer’s proteins from brain cells

cdata: This appears to be dated 2016. Did the preliminary results amount to anything?

anjel: Pro: Salk Institute Con: Preliminary Research, In Vitro

magospietato: Con: from 2016 w. no followup?

rusakov-field: Man, too bad weed gives me bad panic attacks. Alzheimers is the scariest disease I know so maybe if the studies pan out in time and it becomes a standard preventative, I might consider trying again.But somehow I doubt it will be found to be that effective.

mawise: Human trial in 2025 looks promising?https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41160460/#:~:text=ResultsAt%...

anjel: Claude search follow up: Salk Lab Follow-Up (2019) Schubert's group published a 2019 study in Molecular Neurobiology screening 11 cannabinoids — including non-psychoactive ones — across multiple pre-clinical Alzheimer's disease toxicity assays (proteotoxicity, oxidative stress, energy loss, inflammation, and trophic support loss). Nine of eleven were neuroprotective. The study also found a synergistic interaction between tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabinol, while tetrahydrocannabinol and cannabidiol showed only additive effects. PubMedAnimal Model Studies (2012–2025) Multiple rodent studies extended the in-vitro findings:A 2012 study showed prolonged oral cannabinoid administration prevented neuroinflammation, lowered beta-amyloid levels, and improved cognitive performance in transgenic Alzheimer's mice. Sage Journals A January 2025 study in Phytotherapy Research tested cannabidiolic acid and cannabigerolic acid as multi-target compounds, finding they acted on enzymatic targets relevant to Alzheimer's progression (acetylcholinesterase, butyrylcholinesterase, beta-site amyloid precursor protein cleaving enzyme-1) and improved hippocampal neuroplasticity and cognitive function in beta-amyloid-injected mice. Cannabis Science TechUniversity of Texas San Antonio (December 2025) A study published in Aging and Disease (December 2025) found that combining low-dose tetrahydrocannabinol with the anti-inflammatory drug celecoxib (a cyclooxygenase-2 inhibitor) produced improved learning and memory, reduced beta-amyloid and tau pathology, and decreased neuroinflammation markers in animal models — addressing the problem that tetrahydrocannabinol alone negatively affects memory. Single-cell RNA sequencing showed genes involved in synaptic function, inflammation, and Alzheimer's risk shifted toward a healthier profile. UT Health San AntonioFirst Human Clinical Trial (October 2025) A Brazilian randomized controlled trial (26 weeks, published in Journal of Alzheimer's Disease) administered a very low-dose tetrahydrocannabinol-cannabidiol extract (0.350 mg tetrahydrocannabinol / 0.245 mg cannabidiol daily) to 28 Alzheimer's patients. At week 26, the Mini-Mental State Examination score was significantly higher in the cannabis group vs. placebo. No significant difference in adverse events was found between groups. PubMed 64.2% of cannabis-group patients maintained or improved their scores from baseline vs. 33.3% in the placebo group. The authors describe this as the longest clinical trial to date on cannabinoids in Alzheimer's disease patients, while calling for larger Phase 3 trials to confirm findings. Sage JournalsAlzheimer's Disease Pipeline Context (2024) The 2024 Alzheimer's disease drug development pipeline includes a trial combining dronabinol (synthetic tetrahydrocannabinol) and palmitoylethanolamide (an endogenous cannabinoid with anti-inflammatory properties) to treat agitation in Alzheimer's disease. PubMed CentralBottom line on evidence status: The research has progressed from single-compound in-vitro work (2016) → multi-cannabinoid pre-clinical screening (2019) → rodent behavioral/pathology models (ongoing) → one small human randomized controlled trial (2025). No large-scale Phase 3 human trials have reported results yet. All human data remain preliminary.

dmorgan81: Have you tried L-theanine? I also get panic attacks with weed, but L-theanine seems to help keep them at bay.

Aurornis: I only had time to skim the paper. Notably, the effect is concentration dependent and required high concentrations of THC. The chart shows it really starting in the 0.1uM range and then taking off in the 1uM range.I don’t know what levels are achieved during normal use but I did find some studies that successfully killed a lot of hippocampal neuronal cells after 6 days at 1uM range. So the levels of THC observed in this study appear to be in the same range where things start getting really disrupted in cells.In other words, don’t expect to replicate these results with normal recreational use.

ProjectArcturis: There are easily hundreds of compounds that can reduce beta-amyloid in vitro. This is a decade-old nothingburger.

Loughla: I've tried everything and I still get panic attacks. I used to love smoking a small hitter about an hour before bed. I've always had insomnia and that was the one thing that actually helped me sleep. When it was illegal, I loved it. I would smoke 2 or 3 times a week just for sleep, and I was healthy and happy. . . Because sleep is important, and I never wanted to take sleeping pills because dependency.Now that it's legal and everywhere, I just get super fun panic attacks. I'm worthless, I'm failing as a parent, everybody hates me, you know, the normal anxiety attacks. Even Charlotte's Web that's SUPER low THC gives me panic attacks.It's like my body hates it when I'm happy? I would give anything to be able to fix this problem.

beepbooptheory: [delayed]

bitwize: Get stupid now to avoid cognitive decline later? Not sure I like that tradeoff...

SecretDreams: As opposed to getting stupid now and getting cognitive decline later?

laughing_man: Do we still think clearing beta amyloid plaques will halt the progress of Alzheimer's? My impression is we're treating marker for the disease and not the cause.

wafflemaker: Always thought that panic attacks were caused by too low CBD in regards to THC levels.Saw someone literally suggesting keeping a CBD vape pen just in case of a panic attack. Or a friend using it for heart palpitations.Wasn't the amount of THC concentration in resin seen as the indicator of potency? Then that amount was hacked through selective breeding, unbeknownst that not following with a complementary increase in amount of CBD will create an anxiety causing superdrug.I experienced it once - on a party in a country where CBD strains are legal to buy by anyone, as long as they contain ~0%THC. And high quality high THC strains can be bought at a pharmacy with a prescription.A friend rolled a 50%/50% joint, approx 0.5g total, and we proceeded to smoke it whole, just the two of us. I was surprised you could get that high without a shadow of a paranoia.