Abstract

 Sativex is a cannabis-based medicine chiefly used for treating persons suffering from multiple sclerosis.One of the qualities expected for this drug is pain easing. Using ants as models, we found that this medicine reduces theirtactile perception (which is linked to pain perception), but also that it negatively affects their orientation ability, social relationships, cognition, learning and memory. It leads to no habituation, but to no adaptation, andtosome dependence. Sativex becomes less efficient 8 hours after weaning, its effect completely vanishing in 12 - 14 hours. The small amount of ethanol contained in Sativex only somewhat decreases pain perception and memory, and do not lead to dependence. The observation of adverse effects on ants used as a model should warn practitioners that attention should be paid to persons treated with Sativex, i.e. by monitoring their behavior, social relationships, cognition, memory, and by watching for mental and orientation impairments which may present a danger when risky activities are concerned.

Keywords: Cognition; Dependence; Memory; Multiple Sclerosis; Myrmicasabuleti;Social Relationship

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Citation

Citation: Marie-Claire Cammaerts and Roger Cammaerts. “Physiological and Ethological Effects of Sativex, A Cannabis-based Medicine, Examined on Ants as Models". Acta Scientific Pharmaceutical Sciences 4.8 (2020): 63-84.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Marie-Claire Cammaerts and Roger Cammaerts. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.