Nonpsychotropic Cannabinoid Receptors Regulate Microglial Cell Migration

During neuroinflammation, activated microglial cells migrate toward dying neurons, where they exacerbate local cell damage. The signaling molecules that trigger microglial cell migration are poorly understood. In this paper, we show that pathological overstimulation of neurons by glutamate plus carbachol dramatically increases the production of the endocannabinoid 2-arachidonylglycerol (2-AG) but only slightly increases the production of anandamide and does not affect the production of two putative endocannabinoids, homo-gamma-linolenylethanolamide and docosatetraenylethanolamide. We further show that pathological stimulation of microglial cells with ATP also increases the production of 2-AG without affecting…

• S
  Sanofi
• UO
  University of Washington
• MS
  Multiple Sclerosis Society
• UD
  Università degli Studi di Perugia
• NI
  National Institute of General Medical Sciences