June 2005
News tips from the Journal of Neuroscience
Endogenous Cannabinoids and Reward in Monkeys
Zuzana Justinova, Marcello Solinas, Gianluigi Tanda, Godfrey H. Redhi, and Steven R. Goldberg
The rewarding effects of exogenous cannabinoids such as 9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) have been well studied inside and outside the laboratory. It has been more difficult to establish whether endocannabinoids are actually involved in normal brain reward pathways. In this week's Journal, Justinova et al. tested whether squirrel monkeys would self-administer anandamide. transporters and subsequent intracellular The authors also tested the stable synthetic analog methanandamide. Monkeys rapidly learned to press a lever to selfadminister intravenous anandamide or methanandamide with a pattern similar to cocaine.