CBGA is believed to be an effective anticonvulsant for epileptic seizures

Cannabis for epilepsy

Medical cannabis is already used to treat epileptic seizures. However, until now there has been no medical proof of which cannabinoids are most effective against this condition. Therefore, there was a medical consensus that CBD was effective in reducing the seizures typically associated with the condition.

For example, CBD is present in the drug Epidiolex. However, this drug is still not widely used. It is scarcely used, expensive, and may not be available in some countries. Some patients therefore prefer to use full spectrum extracts of legal cannabis to prevent epileptic seizures. These extracts are not always very highly concentrated in cannabidiol. Therefore, researchers asked: which cannabinoids are most effective against epileptic seizures?

A recent study carried out by researchers in Sydney shows that CBGA is more effective at preventing epileptic seizures than CBD. However, there is still a lot of research to be done in order to obtain an effective medicine using medical cannabis.

In answer to this, Australian researchers studied the effects of CBG, CBD, CBGA and CBGV on natural and artificially induced seizures in mice. Their answer, published in the British Journal of Pharmacology, is definitive. CBGA, considered to be the mother of all cannabinoids, is believed to be more effective than CBD against seizures caused by certain forms of childhood epilepsy.

The Australian study in detail

The Australian study showed that 3 cannabinoids have proven anticonvulsant effects: CBGA (cannabigerolic acid), CBDVA (cannabidivarinic acid) and CBGVA (cannabigerovarinic acid). However, CBGA seems to be the most promising molecule against childhood epilepsy and, in particular, Dravet syndrome.

The Australian researchers’ study involved testing the anticonvulsant effects of CBGA in different preclinical seizure models. Cannabigerolic acid was more effective than CBD in many cases. According to the study’s lead researcher, Lyndsey Anderson, CBGA is not as versatile against disease as CBD. Administering CBGA in mice did not reduce all seizures. However, it has a high level of efficacy against hyperthermia-induced seizures.

Explanation of the entourage effect

The research focused on the efficacy of different cannabinoids, tested individually against epileptic seizures. The entourage effect, or the interaction of various cannabinoids with each other which increases their efficacy, is now a recognised phenomenon. The entourage effect was not studied by the Australian researchers. However, they believe that combining different cannabinoids could provide a much more effective treatment against epileptic seizures.

Research is still ongoing to find a treatment combining different cannabinoids to treat children with Davet syndrome. The researchers also point out that CBGA has very different and even divergent effects, according to the natural or triggered mouse models of epilepsy. Although the recent findings on the efficacy of CBGA in treating epileptic seizures have generated a lot of interest and hope, it will be many months before a medical cannabis-based drug for childhood epilepsy is developed.