Novel therapeutic targets for post-traumatic stress disorder:endocannabinoid system / 中国病理生理杂志

ABSTRACT

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a kind of mental disorder that usually occurs after life-threatening and strong mental traumas .Clinical studies showed that the PTSD patients are 3 times more likely to have can-nabis as compared with the healthy people .The use of cannabinoids has a close relationship with the occurrence and clini-cal manifestations of PTSD .Experimental studies revealed that endocannabinoid ( eCB) signal alterations in animal models of PTSD influenced fear memory of the animals , suggesting a close correlation between the eCB system and the pathogenesis of PTSD.Given that the eCB system was reported to regulate affective states and participate in memory consolidation , re-trieval and extinction , targeting the eCB system may improve the emotional and cognitive features of PTSD , thereby holding out great promise for the development of novel approaches for clinical treatment of PTSD .