Figure 2

CBD treatment enhanced adult neurogenesis. BrdU cells reflect the population of proliferating cells at a given period of time. Proliferation was measured 24 h after BrdU injection, while survival was measured 4 weeks after BrdU injection. NeuN/BrdU double positive cells at 4 weeks after BrdU injection are the neurons that were generated and survived during the period of 4 weeks. THC treatment for 6 weeks reduced cell proliferation without affecting neuronal survival. In contrast, CBD treatment decreased proliferation as well, but increased neuronal cell survival seen at 4 weeks after BrdU injection. (A). Animals expressing Nestin, an early marker of neuronal maturation, under a GFP promotor were also fed with THC-rich, CBD-rich, or control (CTR) diet for 6 weeks. The animals were assessed at 7 days after BrdU injection to evaluate the early stages of neurogenesis. In both THC and CBD groups we found a minimal reduction in the number of BrdU-labeled type-1/2a cells (Nestin-GFP-positive, DCX-negative) but a significant reduction on the level of the type-2b (Nestin-GFP-positive, DCX-positive). In THC the number of DCX-positive/Nestin-GFP-negative cells was also reduced. There was a significant increase in the production of BrdU/NeuN-positive cells in the CBD group (B); * p ≤ 0.05. In (C) we show a representative micrograph of BrdU labeled cells (red) within the granule cell layer labeled with NeuN (blue) of the dentate gyrus. The section is one out of nine throughout one hippocampus of a female C57Bl/6 animal that received 3 BrdU injections 4 weeks prior to analysis. The section is 40 μm thick and the scale bar is 50 μm.