Effectively modulating the immune system could be therapeutically important for diseases such as multiple sclerosis. THC from cannabis (marijuana) has been shown to be immunosuppressive, and was tested to see if it could suppress an immune-mediated disease, experimentally induced autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE).
In this animal study, rats and guinea pigs were treated with THC either before or after being inoculated for EAE. Controls who did not receive THC developed severe clinical symptoms and 98% died by day 15. Animals treated with THC had only mild clinical signs or none at all, and had a greater than 95% survival rate.
Examination of the nerve tissue demonstrated that THC treatment had a marked reduction of inflammation. Thus THC is shown both clinically and histologically to inhibit experimentally induced autoimmune encephalomyelitis.
