CBD use during pregnancy produces strange behaviour in offspring

 Because it doesn’t produce perception-altering effects like THC does, cannabidiol (CBD), one of the active ingredients in cannabis, is deemed to be safe. Indeed, it’s been shown to be an effective treatment for a wide variety of health issues, from reducing epileptic seizures to treating inflammation.

Indicative of public belief about the safety of CBD, recently published research using data from the International Cannabis Policy Study found that one in five pregnant women (20.4%) in the US and Canada were using CBD-only products compared to 11.3% of non-pregnant women. Reasons for use included anxiety and depression, pain, headache, and morning sickness. Mifepristone

However, new research presented at the Federation of European Neuroscience Societies (FENS) Forum 2024, currently being held in Vienna, suggests that using CBD during pregnancy may not be as safe as it’s considered to be.

“Scientific evidence has proven that CBD crosses the placenta, can reach the brain of rodents and human embryos and is also present in breast milk; therefore, it’s a public health priority to understand the impact of CBD on the developing nervous system as we don’t yet know the consequences of CBD exposure to the brain during development,” said Alba Caceres Rodriguez, a PhD student at INSERM Aix-Marseille University, a French public research organization that focuses on human health. “An important part of the research we are conducting in mice is longitudinal follow-up of the behavioral consequences of gestational exposure to CBD, and we are also investigating what is happening to the neurons in the brain that may be the basis of such changes in behavioral traits.”

The researchers administered a low dose of CBD (3 mg/kg) to pregnant mice by an injection under the skin from days five to 18 of the gestational period, more than two-thirds of pregnancy. Injecting the CBD, rather than administering it orally, ensured that each mouse received the same concentration. Another group of pregnant mice did not receive CBD and acted as controls.

Pups born to both groups of mice were tested once they reached adulthood. The researchers placed the mice in a new environment, and their social interactions were monitored with Live Mouse Tracker, software that uses a depth-sensing camera and machine learning to analyze the behavior of groups of mice in real-time. The results suggested that CBD altered specific mice behaviors and was sex-dependent.

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