CBD-Rich Cannabis Oil Improves Social Behavior By Acting On 'Love Hormone' Pathway, New Study

To say that the cannabis plant is versatile and that it can affect people in many ways would be an understatement. In fact, with each new studies it is becoming more evident that when it comes to marijuana's effects on people's health and its medical potential we have just scratched the surface.

How is this possible? That's only because the plant couldn't have been freely and simply researched due to its legal status. Fortunately though, as more countries loosen their cannabis laws, more research is coming to light.

A new study by scientists from the University of Brescia in Italy at the Department of Molecular and Transnational Medicine reveals that CBD-rich cannabis sativa oil improves social interaction. The research conducted on mice was recently published in a Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research journal suggesting cannabis acting on the oxytocin pathway stimulates social interaction.

Oxytocin, often called the love drug, is a hormone produced in the hypothalamus and released into the bloodstream by the pituitary gland. It plays an important role in behavior related to social bonding, love, reproduction, childbirth and the period after childbirth, including the breast milk release. Oxytocin has been known to decrease stress and anxiety levels and previous research suggests that it can have a positive impact on social behaviors connected to relaxation, trust, and overall psychological stability, according to Harvard Health Publishing.

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Study Highlights

The goal of the Italian study was to investigate the effect of a CBD-rich cannabis sativa oil on social interaction and ultrasonic communication in mice, wrote the authors.

For 14 days, 27 adult male mice were treated daily with vehicle (a substance used as a carrier of solvent for a substance being tested) or cannabis oil. On the last day, mice were tested for behavior that included social interaction and ultrasonic communication tests. Forty minutes prior to the behavioral tests mice were exposed to intranasal treatment with a vehicle or the oxytocin receptor antagonist. After behavioral tests mice were sacrificed for RNA extraction from the hypothalamus for further quantitative Real Time-PCR research.

Results showed that a 2-week treatment with CBD-rich cannabis sativa oil exerted a prosocial effect connected with an increase in ultrasonic vocalization. Mice who were pretreated with an oxytocin receptor antagonist had reserved effects.

Scientists found that cannabis oil treatment increases oxytocin while at the same time decreasing oxytocin receptor expression levels in the brain hypothalamus.

"Our results suggest that CS oil promotes social behavior by acting on oxytocin pathway," the authors concluded.

This research is in line with previous that showed cannabis makes people better, increasing empathy and sense of selflessness.

See also: Study Confirms That Cannabis Enhances Quality Of Life

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