Literature Review

Use of cannabis in the treatment of refractory epilepsy, treatment applied on domestic
animals like rabbits.
Yachay Tech, December 6, 2019
Mariana Arcos
“Science is beginning to catch up with global health problems” William Foege.
Epilepsy is a nervous system disease, due to the appearance of abnormal electrical activity
in the cerebral cortex, which causes sudden attacks characterized by violent seizures and
loss of consciousness. One of the epilepsy type is the refractory epilepsy which is
characterized by frequent seizures that cause the limitation of mental and physical
abilities. Although, the investigation is oriented to found an effective treatment for
epilepsy in humans, epilepsy also affects animals, especially domestic animals they could
be: dogs, cats, rabbits and others. We will focus on the treatment for epilepsy in rabbits.
The symptoms are the same as those described for humans, but most of them are scarified.
Rabbits have a different physiology and anatomy from humans, then the proportion of
amount to supply and the routes of administration will depend on the weight and
contexture of rabbit. Although the stigmatization of use of cannabinoids, it has been used
for treatment of epilepsy in humans and can help to treat epilepsy in rabbits given a
considerable reduction of symptoms specially seizures working in the neural connections.
In the last years cannabis products has been object to investigation to found an
effective treatment of epilepsy with the principal purpose of control seizures. One part of
cannabis product Δ (9) - tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), has been used for recreational
purposes illegally and is associated with many undesired effects. However, is possible to
synthetized another derivative of cannabis: cannabidiol (CBD). According to () evidence
supporting that CBD shows a better defined anticonvulsant profile in animal models and is
largely devoid of adverse psychoactive effects and abuse liability. CBD has been used for
years to search a way to control the seizures. Recently, there is therapies associated with
CBD improves seizure control in patients with specific epilepsy syndrome. However, one
of the most difficult thing about that is the drug interactions in the patients and the
stigmatization of the use of cannabinoids.
In the article Cannabis: A neurological remedy or a drug of abuse in India(Review)

Biswas, P.a et al. talks about whether cannabis can be considered as a medicine or as a
drug abuse. Failure to carry a proper synthesis process can lead to bad consequences.
Also, another problem is the fact that cannabis is not legal in many countries. It makes
difficult to develop an extensive research of cannabis in treatment of neurological
problems. As result in the research it is founded that “Indian use of cannabis dates back to
Vedic time, mostly for the ritualistic and religious purposes”. India was the beginning of
use of cannabis and it introduce the medical use of cannabis in the neighbored countries.
However, the use of cannabis was stigmatized for religious and society.
Actually, cannabis derivatives have been the focus of science investigation because
of a lot of healthy properties that they have. Then, Alexander Doyle and Jay Harvey in
their article Cannabis and Epilepsy show the medical purpose of marijuana and its many
compounds such as cannabidiol used in the treatment of brain disorders like epilepsy. The
methodology used is Using PubMed in which it is performed a literature review of the
cannabinoid history in the treatment of epilepsy. Having as results sustainable evidence
of use cannabinoids in this treatment. They find other epilepsies of genetic origin and
epilepsies of unknown or idiopathic origin (Doyle, A & Harvey, J. 2019). Another thing
that we can say about this is that the antiepileptic is not always effective in eliminating or
reducing crises and are used alone or in combination with each other, which in many cases
causes the appearance of interactions between drugs that make their management
complicated.
Furthermore, there are many cases of people affected by this kind of disorders like
epilepsy and according to Paul E. Sanmartín and Kamil Detyniecki in their article
Cannabidiol for epilepsy, New hope on the horizon? one third of this patients are drug
resistant as failure to stop all seizures despite adequate trials of at least 2 appropriate
medications. Majority present a lot of side effects because of the antiepileptic drugs. The
occurrence of side effects is also very frequent, among which we can find: tremor,
weight gain, gastrointestinal disorders, drowsiness, etc. Also, they discuss the evidence
supporting the anticonvulsant properties of cannabis in humans, focusing on cannabidiol.
Some cannabinoids modulate neuronal activity, decreasing the hyper excitability that the
epileptic patient presents. It is important to highlight that during epileptic seizures and
after them we find many free radicals and inflammatory foci, which are largely
responsible for brain damage. When we use cannabinoids from plant extracts, it is
important to know the composition of the product, which must be correctly analyzed, to
know the percentage of cannabinoids and be able to dose exactly. Their investigation let
them the drug Administration approval of a purified cannabidiol extract for the treatment
of 2 highly refractory pediatric epilepsy syndromes.
Frist of all, it is necessary mention that rabbits are part of the rodent group; the
skeleton of rodents does not differ much from that of other mammals. However, the rabbit
is a fragile and light skeleton, with the hind limbs adapted for jumping widely muscled.
According to this the amount of drug to supply in rabbits depends on weight, age and sex.
Finally, as we mention before one of the main symptoms of epilepsy is the

seizures. This is the reason for many investigations are oriented to study the
anticonvulsant properties of cannabinoids THC AND CBD. In this article, the authors
make a review about the progress made in cannabis research and the des-stigmatization
about the use of cannabis. The authors in their article tells us how the study and research
of cannabis in the medical field has developed in recent decades and also how a future
investigation of the benefits that can be obtained from cannabis derivatives. It is known
that cannabis has derivatives that are very useful for treating diseases such as epilepsy.
However, only those that do not have psychotropic effects. (Yao. L.a.b. eta al . nd)
In conclusion, although that for many years the use of cannabinoids in the health
area has been stigmatized. It has many benefit and are used for reduce symptoms in
epilepsy in rabbit because it works in the neural connection of the rabbit’s brain. One of
the most relevant symptom of epilepsy is the violent seizures and loss of consciousness.
Also, as antiepileptic is not always effective in eliminating or reducing crises and are used
alone or in combination with each other, which in many cases causes the appearance of
interactions between drugs that make their management complicated, the cannabinoids is
the better way to treat epilepsy. Rabbits have a different physiology and anatomy from
humans, rabbits are part of the rodent group; the skeleton of rodents does not differ much
from that of other mammals. Therefore, the routes of administration of the treatment for
epilepsy in rabbits are a little different than for humans.
References.
Alexander Doyle & Jay Harvey (2019) Cannabis and Epilepsy, Journal of Dual Diagnosis,
DOI: 10.1080/15504263.2019.1645372
Sanmartin, P. & Detyniecki,K . (2018). Cannabidiol for epilepsy, New hope on the
horizon? Clinical Therapeutics. Elsevier. Experimental
Cannabinoids, hippocampal excitability and efficacy for the

treatment of epilepsy(Review)
Yao, I.a,b, Stein, E.S.a, Maggio, N
Cannabis: A neurological remedy or a drug of abuse in India(Review) Biswas, P.a,

Mishra, P.b, Bose, D.a, Durgbanshi, A.bEmail Author View Correspondence (jump link)

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Use of cannabis in the treatment of refractory epilepsy, treatment applied on domestic

animals like rabbits.

Yachay Tech, December 6, 2019

In the article Cannabis: A neurological remedy or a drug of abuse in India(Review)

Finally, as we mention before one of the main symptoms of epilepsy is the

Cannabinoids, hippocampal excitability and efficacy for the

Cannabis: A neurological remedy or a drug of abuse in India(Review) Biswas, P.a,

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