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Canna~Fangled Abstracts

∆9-Tetrahydrocannabinol Increases Growth Factor Release by Cultured Adipose Stem Cells and Adipose Tissue in vivo

By January 18, 2025January 21st, 2025No Comments

. 2025 Jan 18.

doi: 10.1007/s13770-024-00692-8.

Online ahead of print.
Tim Ruhl 1, Sofija Benic 2, Melissa Plum 2, Bong-Sung Kim 2 3, Justus P Beier 2, Benedikt Schaefer 2
Affiliations 

Abstract

Background: Because of its biocompatibility and its soft and dynamic nature, the grafting of adipose tissue is regarded an ideal technique for soft-tissue repair. The adipose stem cells (ASCs) contribute significantly to the regenerative potential of adipose tissue, because they can differentiate into adipocytes and release growth factors for tissue repair and neovascularization to facilitate tissue survival. The present study tested the effect of administering a chronic low dose of ∆9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) on these regenerative properties, in vitro and in vivo.

Methods: Human ASCs were exposed to increasing concentrations of THC. Resazurin conversion was applied to investigate the effect on metabolic activity, cell number was assessed by crystal violet staining, tri-linear differentiation was evaluated by specific colorimetric approaches, and the release of growth factors was analyzed by ELISA. Two groups of mice were treated daily either with a low dose of THC (3 mg/kg) or a vehicle solution. After 3 weeks, adipose tissue was obtained from excised fat deposits, homogenized and tested for growth factor contents.

Results: THC decreased ASC proliferation but increased metabolic activity as well as adipogenic and chondrogenic differentiation. A low concentration of THC (1 µM) enhanced the growth factor release by ASCs. The concentration of these cytokines was also increased in adipose tissue of mice treated with THC.

Conlusion: Our results indicate that chronic activation of the endocannabinoid system promoted differentiation and growth factor release of ASCs, which could be of specific value for enhancing the regenerative potential of adipose tissue.

Keywords: Cannabinoids, Regenerative properties, Stroma cells

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Conflict of interest: The authors report no conflicts of interest. Ethical approval: The study protocol on human ASCs was approved by the regional ethics committee (ethics committee of the RWTH Aachen University Faculty of Medicine, Aachen, Germany; EK163/07), and the reported investigations have been carried out following principles endorsed by the Declaration of Helsinki. Human or Animal rights: The animal experiments were performed according to EU Directive 2010/63/EU for animal experiments, they followed the guidelines of the animal welfare laws and were approved by the Animal Care and Use Committee of the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany (AZ-81-02.04.2021.A352).

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