In a new study, scientists have shown that one of the non-psychoactive cannabinoids in cannabis – CBD – reduces lung damage induced by cytokine storms caused by COVID-19 through enabling an increase in levels of a natural peptide. The scientists, from the Dental College of Georgia (DCG) and the Medical College of Georgia, demonstrated earlier this year that CBD has the ability to improve oxygen levels and reduce inflammation and physical lung damage related to adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS).
Reducing inflammation with CBD, which is an important regulator in bringing both blood pressure and inflammation down, dropped close to zero in the authors’ ARDS model and increased 20 times with CBD. When blood pressure gets high, for example, apelin levels should go up to help reduce the pressure. Apelin should do the same to help normalize inflammation in the lungs and related breathing difficulties associated with ARDS.“ Ideally with ARDS it would increase in areas of the lungs where it’s needed to improve blood and oxygen flow to compensate and to protect,” said Dr Babak Baban, DCG immunologist. But when the authors looked at their ARDS model, apelin did not do either, and instead decreased in both the lung tissue itself and the general circulation. However, this changed when they administered CBD.
The authors emphasize that they do not yet know whether the novel coronavirus or CBD have a direct effect on apelin, or if these are downstream consequences, however, they are already working to find out.“ It is an association; we don’t know yet about causative, but it is a very good indicator of the disease,” Baban said. The authors note that the finding of dramatic reductions in apelin in the face of ARDS, makes levels of the protective peptide a potential early biomarker for ARDS and response to treatment efforts.
Source: https://www.healtheuropa.eu/cbd-reduces-covid-19-lung-damage-with-protective-peptides/103374/?fbclid=IwAR3mjDhfyDr9QX7vchH70EP1dJ4GYpT7Fpme4bjBSIHAcSnOki3w3UwW9-I