The presence of pro-inflammatory cytokines in the blood can boost the effects of daily cannabis use and heighten the risk of developing psychosis in adulthood.
A study by researchers at the University of São Paulo’s Ribeirão Preto Medical School – are more likely to suffer from psychosis than those who are exposed to neither or to only one.
The study was part of a project conducted by the European Network of National Schizophrenia Networks Studying Gene-Environment Interactions , a consortium of research centers in 13 countries, including Brazil.
In the more recent study, the researchers analyzed data for 409 people aged 16-64, including patients experiencing their first psychotic episode and community-based controls.
In addition to the questionnaire on cannabis use, the researchers measured various cytokines in plasma donated by the volunteers and calculated scores representing their systemic inflammatory profiles.
In a previous study conducted as part of my master’s research, we identified a correlation between plasma cytokines and the first psychotic episode.
In sum, the results showed that immune system dysfunction can modify the association between cannabis use and psychosis and that a combination of these two factors increases the odds of suffering from a psychotic disorder,” she said.
The principal investigator for the project is Cristina Marta Del-Ben, a professor at FMRP-USP’s Department of Neurosciences and Behavioral Sciences.
In the multicenter study, which included European cities with varying levels and types of cannabis availability, we also found that the risk of psychosis is greater in users of stronger cannabis strains with a THC content or 10% of higher.” THC is the primary psychoactive constituent of cannabis or marijuana.
The medical explanation of psychosis is that it is a neuropsychiatric syndrome associated with anatomical and functional alterations in the brain, possibly linked to changes in the action of dopamine, a key neurotransmitter for communication among neurons.
Other neurotransmitters, such as glutamate, have also been implicated in the neurobiology of psychosis.
Psychotic symptoms may be present in several psychiatric disorders, which may or may not be affective.
According to Corsi-Zuelli, the origin of the inflammatory alterations involved in psychosis is still obscure, but it may arise from a combination of genetic and environmental factors.
The researchers plan next to study genetic variants associated with the immune system and use neuroimaging data to explore the link with environmental risk factors.
The association between inflammation and psychiatric disorders is highly relevant to clinical practice and has received growing attention.
The research has twice received international recognition.