Background & Aims
Although nabilone (a synthetic cannabinoid agonist) has been approved as an anti-emetic following chemotherapy, it has been applied as an analgesic adjuvant in the management of neuropathic pain and other chronic pain conditions. However, there are limited studies on the cognitive and psychotomimetic effects of cannabinoid compounds. Therefore, we examined the effects of acute cannabinoid intoxication on working memory (WM), psychosis-like experiences (PLE), and tactile funnelling illusion (TFI) following oral doses of nabilone (1-2 mg) administration.
Methods
Healthy participants (n=32) completed the TFI test at various delays and distances of separation of stimuli and after receiving nabilone (2-4 mg, PO) or placebo in a randomized, double-blind, counterbalanced, crossover manner. The primary illusory measures were funnelling and errors of localisation (EL). Furthermore, twenty-eight participants completed the WM tests (digit and spatial span tasks) across different delay conditions (0, 6, 12, 18 s). Three physiological and five psychometric measurements were also performed.
Results
Nabilone decreased funnelling in a delay-dependent manner (p = 0.0016), whereby funnelling was reduced at 0 ms (p =0.01). Nabilone also significantly reduced EL in a distance-dependent manner (p = 0.038), specifically at 4 cm. Nabilone also impaired WM (p = 0.03, for verbal WM and p = 0.00016 for spatial WM). The results showed that the drug effect in the less frequent cannabis users was more pronounced on each WM (p < 0.01), while there appeared to be little drug effect in the frequent cannabis users. In addition, nabilone increased ratings on two of the five administered psychosis scales, without significantly changing the overall (average) scores. However, there were associations between the overall psychometric scores and funnelling illusion under the strongest (0 ms delay) illusion condition, which is dependent on the drug condition (nabilone ? = 0.45, p = 0.028).
Conclusions
Low activation of the cannabinoid system decreases the illusory perception of funnelling. However, nabilone increased ratings on measures of PLE suggesting that nabilone may render opposite effects on psychosis and objective illusory perception. Furthermore, low doses of synthetic cannabinoid impaired WM indicating that exogenous activation of the cannabinoid system influences cognitive performance. Overall, the findings suggest that the acute and chronic cognitive and PLE effects of cannabinoids and other analgesics should be considered during chronic pain management.
References
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Presenting Author
Faiz Kassim
Poster Authors
Topics
- Treatment/Management: Cannabinoids and Cannabis