Cannabis helps female rats to better cope with stress

A study by Washington State University scientists published in the journal Neurobiology of Stress shows that inhaling vaporized cannabis can help with stress reactivity - at least according to results from female rats. However, the results only affected the females, as the males who participated in the 30-day study did not experience the same changes when responding to stressful environments. Nonetheless, it sets a precedent linking chronic cannabis use with stress relief. "We were able to show fairly conclusively that chronic cannabis use can actually significantly dampen stress reactivity in female rats," says Carrie Cuttler, who worked on the study. "Until now, no one has been able to determine whether this blunted stress response is the cause or the result of cannabis use." It may seem strange to do this test on rats instead of humans, but there is a reason for it. It is not easy and not always ethical to test stress reactions in people. In addition, the tests would have to be performed on people who did not use cannabis immediately before the experiment, which is difficult to control. And since the study was done on rats, there are still some problems with the results. "The problem with this approach is that it is stressful to the rats and does not recruit the same neurobiological circuitry that taking a drug does on its own," says Ryan McLaughlin, an assistant professor and another co-author on the study. "To address this challenge, we developed a more natural cannabis delivery system that allows rats to self-administer vaped cannabis whenever they feel like it." The study measured the levels of stress hormones when the rats were exposed to stressors and compared these values ​​as the study went on and the rats consumed cannabis. They got the cannabis into their system by sticking their noses into holes that let steam come out. After 30 days, the female rats had a subdued physiological response, while the male rats remained the same. The study also found that rats that consumed cannabis moderately but steadily had better reactions. "Interestingly, we found that the rats that had access to higher potency cannabis tended to be less reactive and had lower levels of THC in the blood after the experiment than the rats that had access to medium potency cannabis," says McLaughlin. "What makes this difference and why females seem more receptive to the stress-relieving effects of cannabis are both things that we want to investigate in the future." Additionally, while this study has very exciting implications for the cannabis industry and how cannabis can help with stress, it is also important to keep in mind that having levels of stress hormones is a good thing. "An inability to build an adequate hormonal response to stress could have adverse effects that could potentially be harmful to the individual," says Cuttler. "Research on cannabis is just getting underway with legalization, and our work will play an important role in better understanding both the benefits and potential consequences of chronic cannabis use in women and men." Future studies will further investigate why women reacted differently and how cannabis can help with stress responses.