2 Non-Gov Articles(I think)on MJ + Memory

[Fretless]

Why Marijuana Impairs Memory

[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]By Charles Q. Choi
Special to LiveScience
[/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica]posted: 19 November 2006
01:00 pm ET[/FONT]

Scientists may have just found out why marijuana impairs memory and why the brain's natural versions of the drug might help against epilepsy.
The active ingredient of marijuana, THC, is known to impair memory and to bind to areas of the brain linked to memory, such as the hippocampus. Still, the exact mechanisms by which marijuana impairs memory remain unclear.
Neuroscientists David Robbe and Gyorgy Buzsaki at Rutgers University and their colleagues recorded hippocampus activity in rats. Normally brain cells in this region often synchronize their electrical activity.
When the researchers injected rats with THC or a related synthetic drug, they found the normally synchronized workings of the hippocampus became disrupted. While the cells did not change how often they fired nerve impulses, their timing became erratic.
Imagine an orchestra where the musicians are deafened and perhaps blindfolded, Buzsaki said.
"They could still play their own pieces, but without any feedback from the other instruments played by other musicians or the conductor, depending on the nature and the length of the music played, it could be just a bit worse or outright disastrous, even though every note has been played. What is missing is the temporal coordination," Buzsaki explained. This is similar to what the researchers think goes on "in the hippocampal circuits under the influence of marijuana."
The neuroscientists put rats through a standard test of memory, where the animals had to learn to alternate which direction they went in a maze in order to get water. As rat hippocampal brain cell activity grew less synchronized under the influence of drugs, the rodents made more mistakes. This suggests synchronized brain cell activity is crucial for memory formation and hints that THC impairs memory by disrupting this synchronized activity.
The scientists suggest the way THC disrupts synchronized brain cell activity might help fight seizures. During seizures, brain activity becomes abnormally synchronized. Prior research suggested the brain's natural versions of THC, known as endocannabinoids, helped prevent seizures.
Whether or not marijuana is good against epilepsy remains unclear. Anecdotal reports going back centuries say it can help control seizures, but animal studies reveal it could also provoke fits.
The neuroscientists report their findings in the December issue of the journal Nature Neuroscience.

Marijuana's Key Ingredient Might Fight Alzheimer's

[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif]By Charles Q. Choi
Special to LiveScience
[/FONT][FONT=arial,helvetica]posted: 05 October 2006
10:04 am ET[/FONT]

The active ingredient of marijuana could be considerably better at suppressing the abnormal clumping of malformed proteins that is a hallmark of Alzheimer's than any currently approved drugs prescribed for the treatment of the disease.
Scientists report the finding in the Oct. 2 issue of the journal Molecular Pharmaceutics.
About 4.5 million Americans suffer from Alzheimer's disease, which gradually destroys memory. As more people survive into old age, cases of Alzheimer’s disease are expected to triple over the next 50 years. There is no known cure.
The researchers looked at THC, the compound inside marijuana responsible for its action on the brain. Computer models suggested THC might inhibit an enzyme with the tongue-twisting name of acetylcholinesterase (also called AChE) that is linked with Alzheimer's.
AChE is known to help accelerate the formation of abnormal protein clumps in the brain known as amyloid plaques during Alzheimer's. This enzyme also helps break down the brain chemical acetylcholine, which is linked to memory and learning. Acetylcholine levels are reduced during Alzheimer's.
In lab experiments, the scientists found THC was significantly better at disrupting the abnormal clumping of malformed proteins. THC could completely prevent AChE from forming amyloid plaques, while two drugs approved for use against Alzheimer's, donepezil and tacrine, reduced clumping by only 22 and 7 percent, respectively, at twice the concentration of THC used in the tests.
"We're not advocating smoking dope, but if we can make analogues of THC, it could play a role in treating Alzheimer's," researcher Kim Janda, a chemist at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, Calif., told LiveScience. "It would be nice to do more animal studies along these lines."
Past research on human brain tissues and experiments with rats have suggested that synthetic analogues of THC can reduce the inflammation and prevent the mental decline associated with Alzheimer's disease.
However, marijuana is not necessarily good for the mind. Prior investigations have shown that years of heavy marijuana use, consisting of four or more joints a week, can impair memory, decision making, and the ability to pay attention to more than one thing at a time.

 

[Dizoelio]

I don't know... interesting articles... but like I been constantly high for like the last 14 years.... I mean every day smoker - 2-8 times a day.

I never really noticed it having any effects on my memory... in fact I could argue that it helped me remember stuff. Of course I'd have no scientific backing but my own experience.

A few people I know seem to have problems with memory... or even forming coherent sentences when they are high... but then again even when they are sober I seem to think they are mentally handicaped. So like anything else in life to each his own and affects vary on the user. If you have a genetic disposition to be a ******* then most likely you will be a *******. Since our society has evolved to the point that natural selection has been nulled we have the potential to become a race of stupid people.

If you took 10 stupid people and gave them each a cup of water without studying them for their whole lives you could easily come up with the conclusion that the cup of water made them stupid.

Now i'm not saying scientists didn't study the people a little before hand... Also, their memory tests aren't the best to study memory with. A human brain has a multitude of ways to "file" away information. Like I will never forget my best friend from Gradeschool (1st grade) phone number. But I couldn't tell you the name of the girl I lost my virginity to. In the grand scheme of things you would expect me to remember the loss of viriginity easily. But I don't. Why? Because it wasn't important to me at the time to remember her name...

So importance has a relevance in what we remember... and how we remember it. Do you think some dude in a lab coat flashing some pictures at a stoner will have any impact at all? Unless the picture showed something interesting I doubt even a sober person would remember it. Our brains evolved or were made by G-d -depending on which version you go by- to help the humans survive. If something does not effect the status of our lives chances of remembering it are slim.

 

[Fretless]

Your points are taken. I didn't post these articles because I think they are totally accurate, hell, how likely is it that the study was not government funded, and that a number of other results that did not support what they wanted were disregarded. Wouldn't be the first time.
However, there does seem to be enough of a real-world consensus, that if you smoke heavy long enough, you'll have trouble remembering stuff. And it does seem to be largely common sense. I do detect in your response a bit of denial though. I'm not trying to provoke you. Heavy smokers that I've known, every one of them was in great denial about any possible negative factors of MJ, be it physical or social, and would argue endlessly on it, with the exception of lung pollution which is impossible to deny. But I don't know you, so maybe you're different. I mean no offense.
I have known 2 people, though, and perhaps you are in this category, who seem to be immune to the degraded forms of THC. So they are able to smoke quite a lot, even a lot of heavy Indica, and not experience the sort of sedating effects of those chemicals, by which most of us would be stuck on the couch, turning into plants ourselves. I think there may be something to this - the varying sensitivites people have not just to THC but CBN or CNN or whatever it is.

 

[Dizoelio]

Naw, no offense taken dude. I'm the type of guy who see's someone stating a point as a chance to fertilize the mind and perhaps grow out of any preconceived notions.

One thing I forgot to mention. I have a super alpha personality. I have to be in control of any situation to feel useful in it. I'm also a half *** writer so my mind might work a little different than some.

I still think it's in the genes though.

Now I personally "think" that pot makes me less aggressive and more responsive to ideas that might contradict me. I also believe weed has led me to paths I would have never discovered, or thought of things I would have never even dreamed of in a regular state of mind.

But! I can't find my way around town stoned if I am driving lol totally zone off on a song and miss my stop. Maybe it does affect something in the brain. Perhaps the part of the brain affected is used by different peeps in different ways... I don't know.

Of course their is also that insane streak in me... like the hour I spent talking smack to the three reflections of myself in the mylar lol or making monkey faces in the mirror while stoned.

 

[Fretless]

Hippocampus ~
Hippocampus ~
today's fun word
try to use it randomly in conversation with unsuspecting sorts
I think there should be a band named Hippocampus,
maybe Hippocampus Green.