A team of researchers from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center have received a five-year grant totaling $3.69 million from the National Institute on Drug Abuse to study how genetic differences may play a role in individual behavioral and physiological responses to THC.
As cannabis legalization continues to spread and the THC content in products continues to rise, principal investigators Bob Moore, PhD, professor in the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Megan Mulligan, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Genetics, Genomics & Informatics (GGI) aim to identify genetic differences that result in different responses to the effects of THC as they recognize a lack of research on how high levels of THC affect health and behavior.
The team of researchers will use a pharmacogenomic screen in a mouse population with different genetic backgrounds to help identify specific genes responsible for variation in response following exposure to a high dose of THC. Other members of the research team includes co-investigators Byron Jones, PhD, professor in the Department of Genetics, Genomics and Informatics, and Xusheng Wang, PhD, associate professor in the Department of Genetics, Genomics and Informatics.
“This is the first screen for initial response to THC in a genetic population of any animals,” said Dr. Mulligan. “We are positive that we will be able to identify gene variants in cannabinoid receptor signaling and metabolic pathways that underlie differences in THC response in rodents, and we expect these responses and pathways to be similar in humans.”
“If the scientific community sees us having success in identifying how genetics regulates responses to THC, then this approach could be used as a screen to understand whole system effects of new drug candidates,” Dr. Moore said. “I hope it will bring a new approach to potentially identify unwanted side-effects of new therapies and guide medicinal chemists in the drug development effort.”
The United States Department of Agriculture previously awarded another Tennessee university a nearly $5 million grant to fund the research of sustainable hemp fibers. Tennessee State University was awarded the grant for the “Climate-Smart Fiber Hemp: A Versatile Thread Connecting the Nation’s Underserved Farmers, Climate Change Mitigation and Novel Market Opportunities” research project to study the greenhouse gas benefits industrial hemp production may have and promote industrial hemp as a valuable commodity for underserved producers and farmers.
The state’s General Assembly passed a bill that would regulate the production and sale of hemp-derived cannabis products, including delta-8 and delta-10 THC which can be derived from hemp and still produce the “high” effect. The new bill bans the sale of hemp-derived cannabinoid products to people under the age of 21 and adds a five percent additional sales tax to any product sold in stores. All revenue generated from the five percent tax will be deposited into a special account to be used exclusively for the regulation of products containing a hemp-derived cannabinoids in the state. The bill also ensures all delta-8 THC products and other hemp-derived products are inspected by the USDA and, through the Tennessee Department of Agriculture, create a licensing, testing and regulatory process.
Tennessee remains one of 11 states in the country without a medical cannabis program after rejecting a proposed bill that would allow Tennesseans with one of 30 health conditions access to medical cannabis with a doctor’s recommendation. The Tennessee Medical Cannabis Act, sponsored by Republican state Sen. Janice Bowling, would have included post-traumatic stress disorder as one of the qualifying conditions to receive medical cannabis. The state Senate Judicial Committee rejected the proposal on a 6-3 vote, with one Republican and two Democrats voting in favor. Six Republicans voted against passing the bill.
