Highlights
- •Wheel running is an effective method to assess inflammatory bowel disease in rats.
- •Trinitrobenzene sulphonic acid -induced inflammatory bowel disease depressed wheel running in adolescent and adult female rats.
- •Administration of Tetrahydrocannabinol exacerbated the depression of wheel running caused by inflammatory bowel disease.
Abstract
Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) is a life-long disorder that often begins between
the ages of 15 and 30. Anecdotal reports suggest cannabinoids may be an effective
treatment. This study sought to determine whether home cage wheel running is an effective
method to assess IBD, and whether Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the primary psychoactive
compound in cannabis, can restore wheel running depressed by IBD. Adolescent and adult
female Sprague-Dawley rats were individually housed in a cage with a running wheel.
Rats were injected with trinitrobenzene sulphonic acid (TNBS) into the rectum to induce
IBD-like symptoms. One day later, both vehicle and TNBS treated rats were injected
with a low dose of THC (0.32 mg/kg, s.c.) or vehicle. Administration of TNBS depressed
wheel running in adolescent and adult rats. No antinociceptive effect of THC was evident
when administered 1 day after TNBS. In fact, administration of THC prolonged TNBS-induced
depression of wheel running for over 5 days in adolescent and adult rats. These results
show that home cage wheel running is depressed by TNBS-induced IBD, making it a useful
tool to evaluate the behavioral consequences of IBD, and that administration of THC,
instead of producing antinociception, exacerbates TNBS-induced IBD.
Perspective
This article advances research on inflammatory bowel disease in two important ways:
1) Home cage wheel running is a new and sensitive tool to assess the behavioral consequences
of IBD in adolescent and adult rats; and 2) Administration of the cannabinoid THC
exacerbates the negative behavioral effects of IBD.
Key words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: March 13, 2021
Accepted:
February 22,
2021
Received in revised form:
December 19,
2020
Received:
October 29,
2020
Footnotes
Disclosures:
Funded by State of Washington Initiative 502.
The authors have no conflicts of interest related to this work.
Identification
Copyright
© 2021 by United States Association for the Study of Pain, Inc.
