Scientists have discovered an amazing new use for cannabis aftis finding this its main non-psychoactive component, scannabidiol ynthetic – better known as CBD – tin to kill the bacteria responsible gonorrhea, meningitis and legionary disease.
The research, which was a collaboration between IMB’s Superbug Solutions Center and Botanix Pharmaceuticals Limited, could lead to the first new class of antibiotics for resistant bacteria in 60 years.
Dr. Mark Blaskovich, director of the Institute of Molecular Bioscience, said CBD can penetrate and kill a wide range of bacteria included Neisseria gonorrhoeae, which causes gonorrhea.
Blaskovich said: “This is the first time that CBD has been shown to kill some types of gram-negative bacteria. These bacteria have an additional outer membrane, an additional line of defense this makes it difficult for antibiotics to penetrate. “
The news could be above all ideal for the people of Australia, where gonorrhea it is the second most common sexually transmitted infection.
According to IMB, it has become so common that none exist it is already a reliable antibiotic to treat it, as the bacterium is particularly good at developing resistance.
The investigation, that was recently published in the journal Communications Biology – also suggests that cannabidiol is effective in killing the superbug MRSA found in golden staphylococcal bacteria, and can be used to treat diabetic ulcers and wounds.
10 days ago“Cannabidiol showed a low tendency to cause resistance to bacteria, even when we accelerated potential development by increasing antibiotic concentrations during“ treatment, ”Blaskovich added.
“We believe that cannabidiol kills bacteria by bursting its outer cell membranes, but we still don’t know exactly how it does it and we need to investigate further.”
Vince Ippolito, the president and chief executive of Botanix, said the investigationhe showed huge potential for the development of effective treatments for address the growing global threat of antibiotic resistance.
Hippolytus said: “Congratulations to Dr. Blaskovich and his team for producing this important body of research – published data clearly establish the potential of synthetic cannabinoids as antimicrobials. “
Other trials of CBD formulations are currently being conducted, and Blaskovich explains Courier mail: “We believe we can design a different version of CBD that may have some systemic activity.
“We want something that doesn’t break down in the body as quickly as CBD does. There’s definitely potential for CBD to be a prototypical representative of a new class of antibiotics.”