Disease-modifying effects of natural Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol in endometriosis-associated pain

Alejandra Escudero-Lara, Josep Argerich, David Cabañero, Rafaël Maldonado
In: bioRxiv · 2019 · doi:10.1101/715938 · W2962860014
preprint OA: green CC0
📄 Open PDF View on OpenAlex View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-06, 2026-06-07 ⓘ

Chronic THC treatment in a mouse model of endometriosis reduced pain hypersensitivity, restored cognitive function, and inhibited cyst development, correlating with modified uterine innervation and reduced neuroinflammation.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

Abstract Endometriosis is a chronic painful disease highly prevalent in women that is defined by growth of endometrial tissue outside the uterine cavity and lacks adequate treatment. Medical use of cannabis derivatives is a current hot topic and it is unknown whether phytocannabinoids may modify endometriosis symptoms and development. Here we evaluate the effects of repeated exposure to Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in a mouse model of surgically-induced endometriosis. In this model, female mice develop pelvic mechanical hypersensitivity, anxiety-like behavior and sharp memory deficits associated to the presence of extrauterine endometrial cysts. Interestingly, chronic THC (2 mg/kg/day) provides sustained alleviation of pelvic hypersensitivity without altering the anxiogenic phenotype, modifies uterine innervation and restores cognitive function, an effect correlated with neuroinflammatory changes in prefrontal cortex. Strikingly, THC also inhibits the development of endometrial cysts. These data highlight the interest of scheduled clinical trials designed to investigate possible benefits of THC for women with endometriosis.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

Condition tags

endometriosis

Citation neighborhood

Papers in the corpus that this work cites (lower rings, blue) and that cite this one (upper rings, green). Dot size scales with the paper's in-corpus citation count — bigger dot = more influential within the endo/adeno field. Click a dot to open that paper. [ expand to 2 hops ] — adds papers reached through this work's immediate citers/citees. Heavier; up to 60 extra dots.

References (52)

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-06-04T01:45:00.660873+00:00
openalex
last seen: 2026-06-10T17:14:06.276822+00:00
License: CC0 · commercial use OK