A Themed Issue in Honor of Professor Raphael Mechoulam: The Father of Cannabinoid and Endocannabinoid Research
A special issue of Molecules (ISSN 1420-3049). This special issue belongs to the section "Bioactive Lipids".
Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (1 October 2021) | Viewed by 62434
Special Issue Editor
2. European Center for Brain Research, Santa Lucia Foundation IRCCS, Rome, Italy
Interests: arachidonate cascade; bioactive lipids; biomarkers; cell membranes; endocannabinoids; resolvins; signal transduction
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Special Issue Information
Dear Colleagues,
During the last 50 years, the relevance of cannabis (Cannabis sativa or Cannabis indica) ingredients, like the psychoactive Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), cannabidiol, 120+ additional cannabinoids and 440+ non-cannabinoid compounds, for human health and disease has become apparent. Approximately 30 years later, the molecular reasons for the biological activity of these plant extracts were made clearer by the discovery of endocannabinoids, which are endogenous lipids able to bind to the same cannabinoid receptors activated by THC. Besides endocannabinoids, which include several N-acylethanolamines and acylesters, a complex array of receptors, metabolic enzymes, transporters (transmembrane, intracellular, and extracellular carriers) were also discovered, and together they form a so-called “endocannabinoid system,” which has been shown to finely tune the manifold biological activities of these lipid signals.
Both plant-derived cannabinoids and endocannabinoids were first discovered by the group of Dr. Raphael Mechoulam, who has just celebrated his 90th birthday, and clearly stands out as a giant of modern science. The many implications of his seminal work for chemistry, biochemistry, biology, pharmacology, and medicine are described in this Special Issue by the scientists who in the past 20 years have reached the highest recognition in the field of (endo)cannabinoid research, receiving the Mechoulam Award for their major contributions. I thank them for having accepted my invitation to be part of this honorary issue of Molecules, and Raphi for continuing to illuminate our field with his always inspiring investigations and new ideas.
Prof. Dr. Mauro Maccarrone
Guest Editor
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Keywords
- Cannabinoids
- Drug Discovery
- Endocannabinoids
- Human Health
- Lipid Biochemistry
- Metabolism
- Signal Tranduction
- Therapeutics
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