Address of Corresponding Author

Audiol Neurotol 2006;11:207-212 (DOI: 10.1159/000092588)

  Key Words

• Cannabinoid drugs
• Endocannabinoid system
• Central vestibular function
• Vestibular nucleus complex

  Abstract

The results of recent clinical trials of medicinal cannabinoid drugs show that dizziness and vertigo are commonly reported adverse side-effects. Cannabinoid CB1 receptors were initially thought to be expressedin very low densities in the vestibular nucleus complex (VNC). Recent immunohistochemical studies have challenged this idea and suggested that CB1 receptors may exist in numbers similar to the granule cell layer of the cerebellum. This, together with evidence that brainstem CB1 receptors have a higher efficacy than those in many other parts of the brain and that application of cannabinoids can elicit potent electrophysiological effects in VNC neurons, suggests that CB1 receptors and their endogenous ligands may be important in central vestibular function. In this review, we consider the potential clinical significance of the endocannabinoid system for the development of vestibular disorders, the effects of recreational cannabis use and the therapeutic use of medicinal cannabinoids.

Copyright © 2006 S. Karger AG, Basel

  Author Contacts

Prof. P.F. Smith
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology
School of Medical Sciences, University of Otago
Dunedin (New Zealand)
Tel./Fax +64 3 479 5747, E-Mail paul.smith@stonebow.otago.ac.nz

  Article Information

Received: August 31, 2005
Accepted: December 28, 2005
Published online: April 5, 2006
Number of Print Pages : 6
Number of Figures : 2, Number of Tables : 0, Number of References : 49