CBD and CBG may promote healing of bone fractures and manage pain

Cannabidiol (CBD) and cannabigerol (CBG) may one day help patients with bone fractures manage their pain, according to a Penn State study. In a study conducted on mice, researchers unexpectedly discovered that cannabinoids also promoted fracture healing.

The results were published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research.

Scientists estimate that more than 178 million people suffer from bone fractures worldwide each year. According to corresponding author Reyad Elbarbary, associate professor of orthopedics and rehabilitation at Penn State College of Medicine, current methods of pain management, often nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) like aspirin, are not effective. optimal.

“NSAIDs can help patients manage pain, but they also reduce inflammation, which is a crucial first step in healing fractures,” Elbarbary said. “An alternative to pain management is needed, without preventing inflammation from occurring.”

Elbarbary and his team’s main goal was to measure the distinct pain-relieving abilities of CBD and CBG in mice. The team, in what it called the first study analyzing cannabinoids in the context of fracture healing and pain management, found that cannabinoids were comparable to NSAIDs in their ability to manage pain. But they also said they were surprised to find that CBD and CBG helped with the fracture healing process.

Using immunofluorescence microscopy, computed tomography imaging and biomechanical testing, researchers studied the process of fracture healing, from bone density and bone strength to the expression of genes necessary for fracture progression. healing fractures.

Early in treatment, cannabinoids were associated with an increase in the abundance of periosteal bone progenitors, which later develop into specialized bone cells that help form bone tissue. During the later phase of healing, CBD and CBG accelerated the process by which the body absorbs minerals to strengthen newly formed bones.

“Both treatments led to higher bone volume fraction and mineral density than with NSAID treatments, leading to functional and healthy newly formed bone,” Elbarbary said. “We still have a lot to learn about the biological mechanisms behind what we observed.”

According to Elbarbary, future research will focus on defining the cellular and molecular processes behind the role of cannabinoids in early and late stages of fracture healing, as well as developing a clinical formulation for use in adult fracture patients. . Although CBD is already approved by the Federal Drug Administration to treat seizures in children, finding a formulation, or dose, suitable for adults in the setting of bone fractures will be a crucial next step, Elbarbary said.

“There is already solid information about the safety of CBD,” Elbarbary explained. “CBG is more experimental at this stage. It is more likely that CBD will be repurposed to treat fractures once a formulation has been found and its effectiveness for treatment in the context of bone fractures has been determined.”