LONDON, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- A new research in mice suggests that smoking cannabis at the time of conception could cause pregnancies to fail, and the same problem may occur as a result of taking the slimming drug, rimonabant.
Embryologists from Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Tennessee, the United States, have discovered key factors that govern an embryo's chances of successful implantation, New Scientist reported on Tuesday on its website.
After fertilization in humans and mice, the egg faces a perilous path from the place of conception in the fallopian tube down into the womb. The embryologists have shown precisely that the right levels of a chemical called anandamide are required for this passage to be completed safely. Increasing or decreasing the amount of anandamide drastically harms mouse embryos' chances of normal implantation and survival, they said.
The research reveals that anandamide levels in the fallopian tubes are governed by two enzymes: one called NAPE-PLD that increases levels of anandamide, and the other called NAAH that reduces them.
The researchers found that exposing the mice to certain drugs disrupted this delicate balance, thereby impeding an embryo's ability to pass into the womb, and one such substance is tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the major psychoactive component of cannabis.
Like anandamide, it binds to the cannabinoid receptor CB1, thereby displacing anandamide and boosting levels of the chemical present in the oviduct.
According to the report, another expert in reproductive biology, Herbert Schuel at the State University of New York in Buffalo, the United States, pointed out that some new medicines also interact with CB1 receptors and therefore have the potential to disrupt amandine levels and embryo development. One such drug is the slimming pill rimonabant -- sold as Acomplia -- already licensed in Britain. Enditem
