Study Finds CBD Cut Atherosclerotic Plaque Nearly in Half in Animal Model
- CBD significantly reduced atherosclerotic plaque buildup by roughly 50% in male mice but showed no similar effect in female mice, indicating a sex-dependent response.
- The study found that CBD decreased oxidative stress and inflammation within blood vessels without altering body weight or conventional blood lipid levels such as cholesterol and triglycerides.
- Lipidomic and proteomic analyses revealed that CBD downregulated pathways related to mitochondrial activity and oxidative processes in male mice, suggesting a mechanism involving reduced vascular oxidative stress.
- Researchers caution that while findings are promising, they are based on animal models, and further research is needed to understand the sex differences and potential implications for human atherosclerosis treatment.
CBD significantly reduced the buildup of atherosclerotic plaque in male mice, while also reducing biological pathways associated with oxidative stress and inflammation, according to newly published research.
The study, published online August 10 in the Journal of Lipid Research, examined male and female mice genetically predisposed to developing atherosclerosis, a condition characterized by the buildup of plaque inside arteries.
Researchers fed the mice a Western-style diet for 12 weeks and provided either a CBD nanoemulsion at approximately 80 milligrams per kilogram of body weight per day or a control treatment through their drinking water.
Among male mice, median plaque covered 10.35% of the aortic surface in the control group, compared with 5.13% among those given CBD, a reduction of roughly 50%.
The reduction was statistically significant. CBD did not produce a corresponding reduction among female mice, with researchers finding a significant interaction between sex and treatment.
Notably, CBD reduced plaque without changing body weight or conventional blood lipid measurements, including total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and triglycerides.
Researchers then performed detailed lipidomic and proteomic analyses to determine how CBD may have produced the effect.
In male mice, CBD altered the abundance of proteins involved in mitochondrial activity and significantly downregulated pathways related to aerobic respiration, mitochondrial electron transport and other oxidative processes. Researchers said those changes were consistent with a reduction in vascular oxidative stress. Comparable changes were not observed in females.
CBD also produced changes in specific circulating lipid molecules, including an increase in several ether-linked triglycerides. However, researchers cautioned that they were unable to establish that those lipid changes directly caused the reduction in plaque.
Additional laboratory experiments provided evidence of a more direct effect on blood vessels. CBD reduced oxidative stress and inflammatory activation in endothelial cells exposed to oxidized LDL, a form of cholesterol strongly associated with the development of atherosclerosis.
Researchers said the results suggest CBD’s effects may involve reducing oxidative and inflammatory activity within blood vessels rather than simply lowering circulating cholesterol.
“Chronic CBD administration reduced aortic plaque burden exclusively in male” mice, researchers concluded, while emphasizing that the findings demonstrate a substantial sex-dependent response.
The authors said the study is the first to directly compare CBD’s effects in male and female animals in an atherosclerosis model. They said future research should examine why the response differed by sex and determine whether the vascular effects translate beyond animal models.
Because the research was conducted primarily in mice, the findings do not establish that CBD prevents or treats atherosclerosis in humans.