Abstract
CHRONIC marihuana intoxication is accompanied by a marked pharmacological tolerance in all animal species1–3, for example the necessity to increase dosage to obtain the effect of initial dosage. A similar degree of tolerance also develops to the effects of δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the chief psychoactive substance of marihuana4,5. The time period required for the development of tolerance to THC in rodents5 or dogs6 is of the order of 5 to 9 d, which is similar to that required for the development of a cellular immune response. It was also shown by Agurell7 that 3 d after the intravenous injection of tritiated δ9-THC there was a very high specific activity in the spleen. These observations led us to suggest8 that tolerance development to marihuana and to δ9-THC might be mediated in part by the immune system, although no circulating antibodies to THC have ever been isolated.
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NAHAS, G., ZAGURY, D., SCHWARTZ, I. et al. Evidence for the Possible Immunogenicity of Δ 9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in Rodents. Nature 243, 407–408 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1038/243407a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/243407a0
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