Research in mice has shown that tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) - the psychoactive component of cannabis - works through the cannabinoid receptor type 1 (CB1). The receptor is present abundantly in the CNS. When mice were engineered to lack CB1, typical behavioural and autonomic responses to THC were abolished (PLOS Biology Online 2007). Pictured is a coloured scanning electron micrograph of the surface of a cannabis plant.
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