Effect of cannabinoids on glutamate levels in the human brain: a systematic review and meta-analysis
File version
Version of Record (VoR)
Author(s)
Sapaen, Vincent
Hughes, Ian
Owusu, Maame Amma
Sabet, Arman
Broadley, Simon A
Griffith University Author(s)
Primary Supervisor
Other Supervisors
Editor(s)
Date
Size
File type(s)
Location
Abstract
Increased extracellular glutamate concentrations in the brain can cause neuronal injury. Cannabinoid use has been demonstrated to reduce extracellular glutamate levels in the brain in many animal models. However, there are no systematic reviews published evaluating the effect of cannabis on glutamate levels in the human brain. This review aimed to review studies that investigated the effect of cannabinoids on glutamate levels in the living human brain using neuroimaging methods and to provide evidence gathered from biomedical databases such as MEDLINE and EMBASE. Nine randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and ten observational studies met the eligibility criteria for this review. The articles included in the meta-analyses had a low risk of bias. Meta-analysis showed cannabis intake has no effects on the glutamate levels in human brain. However, there is limited evidence indicating that oral cannabidiol and cannabidivarin increased the glutamate/glutamine ratio in the basal ganglia while intravenous and vaped tetrahydrocannabinol increased glutamate in the basal ganglia. There is also some evidence showing oral cannabidiol increased glutamate in the hippocampus. Most of the observational studies in this review demonstrated a reduction in glutamate in the brain of chronic cannabis users. However, these findings are not definitive and will require further confirmations. This review suggests that acute cannabis administration may increase glutamate in the basal ganglia and hippocampus but not in other parts of the brain, while chronic cannabis use lead to a decrease in glutamate levels in some parts of the brain. The quality of this evidence is limited therefore further studies are needed.
Journal Title
Journal of Cannabis Research
Conference Title
Book Title
Edition
Volume
7
Issue
Thesis Type
Degree Program
School
Publisher link
Patent number
Funder(s)
Grant identifier(s)
Rights Statement
Rights Statement
© Crown 2025. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
Item Access Status
Note
Access the data
Related item(s)
Subject
Persistent link to this record
Citation
Urbi, B; Sapaen, V; Hughes, I; Owusu, MA; Sabet, A; Broadley, SA, Effect of cannabinoids on glutamate levels in the human brain: a systematic review and meta-analysis, Journal of Cannabis Research, 2025, 7, pp. 21