Endocannabinoid System 101 – Introduction

For Sale: baby shoes, never worn. 

To start off Canna-Bites, I’m trying to encapsulate the endocannabinoid system or do an Endocannabinoid System 101.  That means I decided to pick the largest, most complicated “thing” in the whole cannabis and human relationship, the Endocannabinoid System (ECS) and summarize it.  Summarizing the ECS is like asking someone to summarize the Universe in six words, but here we go.

The ECS is a lipid signalling system in the body.  We have lots of signalling systems in our body.  Neurotransmitters are often proteins, or components of proteins that let one nerve cell or neuron communicate with another.  Hormones like insulin are proteins that tell muscles cells to suck up glucose from the blood stream.  Hormones like estrogen and testosterone are lipids.  Estrogen tells the lining of the uterus to grow.  Testosterone tells the moustach to grow.  The Endocannabinoid System (ECS) sends signals from one part of the body to another with a special kind of lipid.

The ECS has three main components:  the endocannabinoids, the cannabinoid receptors and enzymes that break down the endocannabinoids.  The endocannabinoids are the signalling lipids.  The cannabinoid receptors are proteins on cells all over the body.  When an endocannabinoid attaches to a cannabinoid receptor, that signals that cell, or group of cells to do something.  Then enzymes break down the endocannabinoid, so the endocannabinoid signal does not last forever.

TS