The majority of Parkinson's disease patients undergoing levodopa therapy develop disabling motor complications (dyskinesias) within 10 years of treatment. Stimulation of cannabinoid receptors, the pharmacological target of Delta 9-tetrahydrocannabinol, is emerging as a promising therapy to alleviate levodopa-associated dyskinesias. However, the mechanisms underlying this beneficial action remain elusive, as do the effects exerted by levodopa therapy on the endocannabinoid system. Although levodopa is known to cause changes in CB1 receptor expression in animal models of Parkinson's disease, we have no information on whether this drug alters the brain concentrations of the endocannabinoids anandamide and 2-arachidonylglycerol. To address this question, we used an isotope dilution assay to measure endocannabinoid levels in the caudate-putamen, globus pallidus and substantia nigra of intact and unilaterally 6-OHDA-lesioned rats undergoing acute or chronic treatment with levodopa (50 mg/kg). In intact animals, systemic administration of levodopa increased anandamide concentrations throughout the basal ganglia via activation of dopamine D1/D2 receptors. In 6-OHDA-lesioned rats, anandamide levels were significantly reduced in the caudate-putamen ipsilateral to the lesion; however, neither acute nor chronic levodopa treatment affected endocannabinoid levels in these animals. In lesioned rats, chronic levodopa produced increasingly severe oro-lingual involuntary movements which were attenuated by the cannabinoid agonist R(+)-WIN55,212-2 (1 mg/kg). This effect was reversed by the CB1 receptor antagonist rimonabant (SR141716A). These results indicate that a deficiency in endocannabinoid transmission may contribute to levodopa-induced dyskinesias and that these complications may be alleviated by activation of CB1 receptors.

The endogenous cannabinoid, anandamide, has been shown to attenuate naloxone-precipitated opiate withdrawal in rodents. Here we show that the spontaneous, but not the naloxone-precipitated withdrawal syndrome in morphine-dependent mice is attenuated by the inhibitor of carrier-mediated anandamide transport N-(4-hydroxyphenyl) arachidonylethanolamide (AM404) (2 and 10 mg/kg, i.p.). These results suggest that spontaneous but not opioid antagonist-precipitated withdrawal is associated with dynamic changes in endogenous cannabinoid signaling.

The endogenous cannabinoid acylethanolamide AEA (arachidonoylethanolamide; also known as anandamide) participates in the neuroadaptations associated with chronic ethanol exposure. However, no studies have described the acute actions of ethanol on AEA production and degradation. In the present study, we investigated the time course of the effects of the intraperitoneal administration of ethanol (4 g/kg of body mass) on the endogenous levels of AEA in central and peripheral tissues. Acute ethanol administration decreased AEA in the cerebellum, the hippocampus and the nucleus accumbens of the ventral striatum, as well as in plasma and adipose tissue. Parallel decreases of a second acylethanolamide, PEA (palmitoylethanolamide), were observed in the brain. Effects were observed 45-90 min after ethanol administration. In vivo studies revealed that AEA decreases were associated with a remarkable inhibition of the release of both anandamide and glutamate in the nucleus accumbens. There were no changes in the expression and enzymatic activity of the main enzyme that degrades AEA, the fatty acid amidohydrolase. Acute ethanol administration did not change either the activity of N-acyltransferase, the enzyme that catalyses the synthesis of the AEA precursor, or the expression of NAPE-PLD (N-acylphosphatidylethanolamine-hydrolysing phospholipase D), the enzyme that releases AEA from membrane phospholipid precursors. These results suggest that receptor-mediated release of acylethanolamide is inhibited by the acute administration of ethanol, and that this effect is not derived from increased fatty acid ethanolamide degradation.