According to new study by scientists from King's College London and Sapienza University in Rome, smoking high doses of 'skunk-like' cannabis may affect an important part of the brain that is responsible for communication between the two hemispheres of the brain.
Researchers have had the idea for a while now that the risk of developing psychosis is high with long-term use of cannabis. Evidence shows that the brain's exposure to this alleged effect may be cause by alterations in brain function and structure, but a new research in the Psychological Medicine was recognized to be the first to analyze the effect of cannabis potency on the structures of the brain.
Today's high Potency 'skunk-like' cannabis have been known to have higher Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) than they did years ago, so experts find it most important to explore on the impact it has on humans more. In experimental studies, THC has showed evidences that it can produce psychotic symptoms and 'skunk-like' products with an elevated THC are now considered to be the most commonly used type of cannabis in the United Kingdom.
Dr. Paola Dazzan, Reader in Neurobiology of Psychosis from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London, and senior researcher in the study said that they realized that repeated use of high potency cannabis can greatly affect the structure of white matter fibers in the brain, whether you are psychotic or not. She also said that this study also shows a sliding scale of the damage smoking high potency cannabis can cause.
A Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) technique called Diffusion Tensor Imaging (DTI) was used to examine the white matter in the brains of 56 patients who was diagnosed to have their first episode of psychosis at the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation (SLaM), and 43 participants in the local community were also checked.
The researchers particularly analyzed the corpus callosum which is the structure to have the largest white matter in the brain responsible for the two brain hemispheres' communication. The white matter is made up of large bundles of nerve cell projections called axons that connect regions of the brain and enables communication between them.
The study revealed that frequent use of high potency cannabis was linked to significantly higher mean-diffusivity (MD), a marker of damage in white matter structure.
