Oxytocin and Vasopressin Gene Expression in the Brain as Potential Biomarkers for Cannabidiol Exposure and Anti-inflammatory Efficacy

Over the past few years there has been an increased interest in cannabidiol (CBD) for general use as well as alternative therapeutic for various diseases. Although CBD has only been FDA approved for seizures under the oral formulation, Epidiolex®, the public has used various unregulated forms of CBD to treat a variety of ailments from pain to anxiety and insomnia. Moreover, an increasing subset of CBD advocates take CBD daily to prevent inflammation. This expanded use of CBD strongly suggests that more research is necessary to elucidate the safety and efficacy of CBD and determine the mechanisms by which it acts. Thus, we conducted two separate studies. In the first, RNA sequencing (RNA-Seq) analysis of brains of female mice undergoing experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in the presence and absence of CBD was conducted in order to identify potential genes that mediated CBD’s neuroprotective effects. In the second, we assessed some of the same genes in male and female mice treated with CBD in the absence of an immune stimulus. Together these data showed that CBD modestly increased oxytocin (Oxt) and vasopressin (Avp) gene expression in the brains of mice, regardless of whether there was active inflammation, suggesting they might serve as biomarkers for CBD exposure, and perhaps, anti-inflammatory efficacy.