Acute treatment with as little as 10 mg/kg of purified CBD “can enhance social interaction preference in male mice that are otherwise socially deficient”, according to a new study that could have important implications for humans and open the door for future research.
The study is available in the recent issue of the journal Advances in Drug and Alcohol Research, and it was epublished by the National Library of Medicine. The full text of the study can be found by clicking here.
“The potential for CBD to ameliorate dimensional behavior symptoms occurring in multiple psychiatric disorders was suggested, including social interaction impairments”, states the study’s abstract. To test this hypothesis, “adult male mice with idiopathic autism exhibiting social preference deficits and restrictive repetitive behaviors” were acutely treated with either a placebo or 0.1, 1, or 10 mg/kg CBD.
Social interaction preference was assessed 50 min after treatment, followed by social novelty preference at 60 min, marble burying at 75 min and social dominance at 120 min.
“CBD (10 mg/kg) enhanced BTBR social interaction but not social novelty preference, marble burying or dominance, with serum levels = 29 ± 11 ng/mg at 3 h post-injection”, states the study. “Next, acute 10 mg/kg CBD was compared to vehicle treatment in male serotonin transporter (SERT) knock-out mice, since SERT deficiency is an autism risk factor, and in their wildtype background strain controls C57BL/6J mice.”
Researchers say that “CBD treatment generally enhanced social interaction preference and attenuated social novelty preference, yet neither marble burying nor dominance was affected.”
They conclude:
These findings show acute treatment with as little as 10 mg/kg purified CBD can enhance social interaction preference in male mice that are otherwise socially deficient.
The study was conducted by researchers at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio and William Paterson University in New Jersey
