A new study from researchers at King’s College London offers news evidence that cannabidiol could help regulate brain activity tied to memory and early signs of psychosis.
The findings, published in Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, examined how a single dose of CBD affected the relationship between hippocampal glutamate levels and brain activation during a verbal learning task.
The study involved 33 people considered clinically at high risk for psychosis. Participants were randomly assigned to receive either 600 milligrams of CBD or a placebo, while a separate group of 19 healthy controls completed the same testing without any study drug. All participants underwent MRI scanning and measurements of hippocampal glutamate before completing a verbal learning exercise.
Those who received a placebo showed a clear positive correlation between glutamate levels in the hippocampus and activation in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. That pattern differed from the healthy control group and matched what researchers typically see in the early stages of psychosis.
In those who received CBD, however, the pattern flipped. The CBD group demonstrated a negative correlation between glutamate levels and prefrontal activation, suggesting the compound may help normalize a disrupted signaling pathway. Similar shifts were seen in the parahippocampal gyrus and amygdala during verbal recall.
Researchers said the results point to CBD’s potential to modulate a key neurochemical link involved in memory and cognition, offering a possible therapeutic pathway for people experiencing early warning signs of psychosis.
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