The Effect Of Cannabinoid AEA On Learning And Memory Function And The Action Mechanisms

With the coming era of aging, the incidence of Alzheimer's Disease(AD) develops increasingly which has been the focus of the whole society. The learning and memory is one of the high-level functions of the brain, which is one of the hot topics in the area of neuroscience. Learning and memory has a close relationship with the neural degenerative diseases of decrepitude and AD. Only based on the clear explanation of neural mechanisms of learning and memory can we find the better solution to prevent and treat AD.Learning and memory function is based on the high plasticity of central nervous system. Synaptic linkage is also the key part of the neural plasticity and plays the vital role in the information transfer among neurons. The long-term potentiation (LTP) reflects the process of information storage which is also the objective electrophysiology index of neuronal physiological functions during the formation of memory. Since it was discovered by Bliss in 1973, LTP has called great attention from all researchers. Now it has been the ideal model for learning and memory study.Many neurotransmitters and neuropeptides are involved in the process of learning and memory. Recently it was found that cannabinoid could damage some types of learning and memory functions, which mainly impacted on the fade of space memory of animal and LTP. Since it was found that there exists endogenous cannabinoids and their receptor system, the study in this field has called much more attention. The study mainly focused on N-arachidonoy- lethanolamine (AEA, or anandamide) and 2-arachidonyl glycerol (2-AG), the two endocannabinoids. There are two types of cannabinoid receptors, CB1 and CB2. The CB1 receptor exists in central nervous system, and CB2 receptor exists in the peripheral tissues. Nowadays, there are two special antagonists of CB1 receptor: AM251 and rimonabant. We can tell from the research that...