Medical cannabis has been shown to have benefits in pain management, anxiety, depression and neurological and movement disorders, however the chemical composition of these (low solubility, high instability and poor bioavailability), restrict their utilization. It’s like the medication that can help you is trapped behind a locked door and cannot get through. This is where nanotechnology comes in.
What is nanotechnology? Scientific publications do not go into detail of what nanotechnology is. They assume anyone reading that kind of publication would know all that. Not true. According to Google, “Nanotechnology refers to the branch of science and engineering devoted to designing, producing, and using structures, devices, and systems by manipulating atoms and molecules at nanoscale, i.e. having one or more dimensions of the order of 100 nanometres (100 millionth of a millimetre) or less.”
Apparently when chemicals, such as cannabinoids, are mixed with lipids they form an enclosure around the cannabinoid particles. The lipids protect the cannabinoid and enhance its ability to be transported through membranes that previously were impenetrable.
Oral formulations of cannabinoids are poorly permeable in the GI tract and can cause irritation. Alternative routes are used such as pulmonary, rectal, sublingual and intravenous injections. These increase bioavailability but have drawbacks, and while the highest bioavailability is via smoking (2% - 56%), absorption of the drugs cannot be controlled due to variability in smoking dynamics.
Experiments show that co-administration of cannabinoids with lipids enhances bioavailability of THC in rats by more than 2.5 fold and of CBD by almost 3 fold. A mixture of lipids was combined with a cannabinoid and administered to the rats. The lipids seem to form a bond around the cannabinoids thus protecting them from degradation and allowing them to be more easily absorbed. (Note that these were not easy articles to read but hopefully I got the gist of them.)
The primary mechanism of the increased absorption is intestinal lymphatic transport. The amount of lipids present in the cannabis containing foods is sufficient to activate intestinal lymphatic transport leading to increased exposure to cannabinoids. This could be good or bad as a low dose might result in effective exposure while a high dose could be magnified into a toxic dose. Drugs that are transported this way avoid the hepatic first pass metabolism and therefore achieve higher bioavailability
Interestingly these nanoparticles are also being used to deliver medications to wounds to enhance the healing process. As discussed above, chemicals encapsulated in these specific lipids seem to aid in the delivery to the wound site.
So, how does this all relate to us who are trying to self medicate or work with a physician to better our health? Don’t go out and try this nanotech own on you. These papers are reporting experimental findings that are not ready for prime time. Just know that work is being done to improve performance of these chemicals.
References
The first-pass metabolism or the first-pass effect.
Sublingual and Buccal Medication Administration
An update of nano-based drug delivery systems for cannabinoids: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0378517323001473
Dietary fats and pharmaceutical lipid excipients increase systemic exposure to orally administered cannabis and cannabis-based medicines:
Nanoformulations as a strategy to overcome the delivery limitations of cannabinoids
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