Reviews of Physiology Biochemistry and Pharmacology
Reviews of Physiology, Biochemistry and Pharmacology Volume 160 2008 V. di Marzo: Endocannabinoids: Synthesis and Degradation R. Rivera and J. Chun: Biological Effects of Lysophospholipids S. J. O’Meara, K. Rodgers, and C. Godson: Lipoxins: U
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Reviews of
160 Physiology Biochemistry and Pharmacology Editors S.G. Amara, Pittsburgh • E. Bamberg, Frankfurt B. Fleischmann, Bonn • T. Gudermann, Marburg S.C. Hebert, New Haven • R. Jahn, Göttingen W.J. Lederer, Baltimore • R. Lill, Marburg A. Miyajima, Tokyo • S. Offermanns, Heidelberg R. Zechner, Graz
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ISBN 978-3-540-77603-1 DOI 10.1007/978-3-540-77604-8
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Reviews of Physiology, Biochemistry and Pharmacology ISSN 0303-4240 Library of Congress-Catalog-Card Number 74-3674
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Rev Physiol Biochem Pharmacol (2006) 160:1 –24 DOI 10.1007/112_0505
V. Di Marzo
Endocannabinoids: synthesis and degradation
Published online: 29 April 2006 © Springer-Verlag 2006
Abstract Endocannabinoids were defined in 1995 as endogenous agonists of cannabinoid receptors, i.e. of the G protein-coupled receptors for cannabis’s psychoactive principle, ∆9 -tetrahydrocannabinol. Although there appear to be several endocannabinoids, only two of such endogenous mediators have been thoroughly studied so far: anandamide and 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG). A general strategy seems to apply to the biosynthesis and degradation of anandamide and 2-AG, although the levels of these two compounds appear to be regulated in different, and sometimes even opposing, ways. “Endocannabinoid enzymes”, that is to say enzymes that catalyse endocannabinoid biosynthesis or degradation, have been identified and in some cases cloned, and will be described in this review together with their possible pharmacological targeting for therapeutic purposes. The cellular and subcellular localization and the modes for the regulation of the expression and activity of these enzymes play an important role in the functions played by the endocannabinoids under physiological and pathological conditions.
Endocannabinoids Two subtypes of G protein-coupled receptors for cannabis’s psychotropic component, ∆9 -tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), have been cloned to dat
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