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PMID: 14744801 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Review

The endocannabinoid system: a general view and latest additions.

British journal of pharmacology ·Vol. 141 ·No. 5 ·2004-03-00 ·Pages 765-74

De Petrocellis L, Cascio MG, Di Marzo V

Abstract

After the discovery, in the early 1990s, of specific G-protein-coupled receptors for marijuana's psychoactive principle Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol, the cannabinoid receptors, and of their endogenous agonists, the endocannabinoids, a decade of investigations has greatly enlarged our understanding of this altogether new signalling system. Yet, while the finding of the endocannabinoids resulted in a new effort to reveal the mechanisms regulating their levels in the brain and peripheral organs under physiological and pathological conditions, more endogenous substances with a similar action, and more molecular targets for the previously discovered endogenous ligands, anandamide and 2-arachidonoylglycerol, or for some of their metabolites, were being proposed. As the scenario becomes subsequently more complicated, and the experimental tasks to be accomplished correspondingly more numerous, we briefly review in this article the latest 'additions' to the endocannabinoid system together with earlier breakthroughs that have contributed to our present knowledge of the biochemistry and pharmacology of the endocannabinoids.

MeSH Terms
Animals Cannabinoid Receptor Modulators/chemistry,metabolism,physiology Endocannabinoids Humans Receptors, Cannabinoid/physiology Signal Transduction/physiology
Chemicals
Cannabinoid Receptor Modulators Endocannabinoids Receptors, Cannabinoid
Authors & Affiliations
3 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
De Petrocellis Luciano
Endocannabinoid Research Group, Istituto di Chimica Biomolecolare, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Via Campi Flegrei 34, Comprensorio Olivetti, Fabbricato 70, 80078 Pozzuoli (Napoli), Italy.
Cascio Maria Grazia
Di Marzo Vincenzo
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Article Info
Journal
British journal of pharmacology
Abbr.
Br J Pharmacol
ISSN
0007-1188
DOI
10.1038/sj.bjp.0705666
Published
2004-03-00
Epub
2004-00-26
Pages
765-74
Language
English
Region
England
NLM ID
7502536
PMCID
PMC1574255
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1038/sj.bjp.0705666 PMC Full Text View journal details
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