Endocannabinoids like 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) exert neuroprotective effects after brain injuries. According to current concepts, these neuroprotective effects are due to interactions between 2-AG and cannabinoid (CB)1 receptors on neurons. Moreover, 2-AG modulates migration and proliferation of microglial cells which are rapidly activated after brain lesion. This effect is mediated via CB2- and abnormal-cannabidiol (abn-CBD)-sensitive receptors. In the present study, we investigated whether the abn-CBD-sensitive receptor on microglial cells contributes to 2-AG-mediated neuroprotection in organotypic hippocampal slice cultures (OHSCs) after excitotoxic lesion induced by NMDA (50 microM) application for 4 h. This lesion caused neuronal damage and accumulation of microglial cells within the granule cell layer. To analyze the role of abn-CBD-sensitive receptors for neuroprotection and microglial cell accumulation, two agonists of the abn-CBD-sensitive receptor, abn-CBD or 2-AG, two antagonists, 1,3-dimethoxy-5-methyl-2-[(1R,6R)-3-methyl-6-(1-methylethenyl)-2-cyclohexen1-yl]-benzene (O-1918) or cannabidiol (CBD), and the CB1 receptor antagonist AM251, were applied to NMDA-lesioned OHSC. Propidium iodide (PI) labeling was used as a marker of degenerating neurons and isolectin B(4) (IB(4)) as a marker of microglial cells. Application of both, abn-CBD or 2-AG to lesioned OHSC significantly decreased the number of IB(4)(+) microglial cells and PI(+) neurons in the dentate gyrus. In contrast to AM251, application of O-1918 or CBD antagonized these effects. When microglial cells were depleted by preincubation of OHSC with the bisphosphonate clodronate (100 microg/mL) for 5 days before excitotoxic lesion, 2-AG and abn-CBD lost their neuroprotective effects. We therefore propose that the endocannabinoid 2-AG exerts its neuroprotective effects via activation of abn-CBD-sensitive receptors on microglial cells.

Background: Cannabinoids are known to have an anti-tumorous effect, but the underlying mechanisms are only sparsely understood. Mechanical characteristics of tumor cells represent a promising marker to distinguish between tumor cells and the healthy tissue. We tested the hypothesis whether cannabinoids influence the tumor cell specific mechanical and migratory properties and if these factors are a prognostic marker for the invasiveness of tumor cells.Methods: 3 different glioblastoma cell lines were treated with cannabinoids and changes of mechanical and migratory properties of single cells were measured using atomic force microscopy and time lapse imaging. The invasiveness of cell lines was determined using a co-culture model with organotypic hippocampal slice cultures.Results: We found that cannabinoids are capable of influencing migratory and mechanical properties in a cell line specific manner. A network analysis revealed a correlation between a "generalized stiffness" and the invasiveness for all tumor cell lines after 3 and 4 d of invasion time: Conclusions: Here we could show that a "generalized stiffness" is a profound marker for the invasiveness of a tumor cell population in our model and thus might be of high clinical relevance for drug testing. Additionally cannabinoids were shown to be of potential use for therapeutic approaches of glioblastoma.

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Endocannabinoids like 2-arachidonoylglycerol strongly modulate the complex machinery of secondary neuronal damage and are shown to improve neuronal survival after excitotoxic lesion. Palmitoylethanolamide (PEA), the naturally occurring fatty acid amide of ethanolamine and palmitic acid, is an endogenous lipid known to mimic several effects of endocannabinoids even without binding to cannabinoid receptors. Here we show that PEA (0.001-1 μM) and the synthetic peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR)-alpha agonist 4-chloro-6-(2,3-xylidino)-2-pyrimidinylthio acetic acid (Wy-14,643; 0.1-1 μM) reduced the number of microglial cells and protected dentate gyrus granule cells in excitotoxically lesioned organotypic hippocampal slice cultures (OHSCs). Treatment with the PPAR-alpha antagonist N-((2S)-2-(((1Z)-1-Methyl-3-oxo-3-(4-(trifluoromethyl)phenyl)prop-1-enyl)amino)-3-(4-(2-(5-methyl-2-phenyl-1,3-oxazol-4-yl)ethoxy)phenyl)propyl)propanamide (GW6471; 0.05-5 μM) blocked PEA-mediated neuroprotection and reduction of microglial cell numbers whereas the PPAR-gamma antagonist 2-chloro-5-nitro-N-phenyl-benzamide (GW9662; 0.01-1 μM) showed no effects. Immunocytochemistry and Western blot analyses revealed a strong PPAR-alpha immunoreaction in BV-2 microglial cells and in HT22 hippocampal cells. Intensity and location of PPAR-alpha immunoreaction remained constant during stimulation with PEA (0.01 μM; 1-36 h). In conclusion our data provide evidence that (1) PEA counteracted excitotoxically induced secondary neuronal damage of dentate gyrus granule cells, (2) PPAR-alpha but not PPAR-gamma is the endogenous binding site for PEA-mediated neuroprotection, and (3) PEA may activate PPAR-alpha in microglial cells and hippocampal neurons to exert its neuroprotective effects. In addition to classical endocannabinoids, PEA-mediated PPAR-alpha activation represents a possible target for therapeutic interventions to mitigate symptoms of secondary neuronal damage.