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Marijuana's Effect on White Blood Cells
| Article
# : |
14005 |
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Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
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| Issue
Date : |
2 / 1988 |
1,455 Words |
| Author
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Eliezer Huberman
Elizer Huberman is director of the Biological, Environmental
and Medical Research Division of the Argonne National
Laboratory in Argonne, Illinois. His associates in this
research have been Gerald Murison, Cynthia B.H. Chubb, Sakan
Maeda, and M. Anne Gemmell. |
Although some people claim that smoking marijuana makes them feel better, scientists believe that "pot" smokers may end up feeling worse. For some time, scientists have suspected that marijuana depresses the body's immune system, making smokers more susceptible to disease. But until recently, no one knew why.
Now biologists at Argonne National Laboratory have show that marijuana may play a role in inhibiting the development of a type of white blood cell called a monocyte. These cells are key components of the immune system, which protects the body from disease.
In the bloodstream, mature monocytes produce substances that stimulate other immune cells and kill invading microorganisms. However, when immature monocytes are exposed to tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main psychologically active substance in marijuana, the monocytes do not develop to maturity. This means that there are fewer working white cells and the body's resistance to disease is weakened.
Now that the particular white blood cells that marijuana influences have been identified, it is possible to focus on the mechanism by which the drug acts. This work could lead to the creation of marijuana derivatives that control cell maturation, with possible applications to the management of organ transplants and the treatment of cancers such as leukemia.
Our research shows that immature monocytes were affected when exposed to levels of THC similar to those found in the blood of marijuana smokers. In general, the higher the concentration of THC, the more severe the effect. Similar results were found with cannabinol (CBN) and cannabidiol (CBD), two other components of marijuana that closely resemble THC.
Inhibition of the development of immature monocytes exposed to these cannabinoids was exhibited by both external and internal changes. Monocytes typically go through three main stages of development: immature "precursor" cells, intermediate-stage cells, and mature cells. After precursor cells were exposed to cannabinoids, they were found to differ from both immature and fully mature monocytes in several ways. They possessed different identifying markers on their surfaces, produced different types and amounts of proteins and enzymes, and behaved differently in culture dishes.
Exactly how marijuana causes these changes is unknown, but the doses of THC that effect cells closely
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