Assessing the efficacy of Zebrafish seizure models for testing cannabinoids

Approximately 1% of the world's population is purported to be affected by epilepsy. Of which 30% have multi-drug resistant epilepsy, which often leads to the requirement for strong anti-seizure medications or cocktails thereof. In general this leads to an ever increasing side effect profile that is often debilitating in and of itself. It has been purported that cannabinoids, in particular cannabidiol (CBD), can mitigate, to some degree, epileptic seizures. Unfortunately, the evidence in support of this is largely anecdotal in nature. In the current study we have made use of a previously developed zebrafish model of induced neuro-hyperactivity following exposure to pentylenetetrazole (PTZ) along with a transgenic zebrafish model of idiopathic generalized epilepsy to test the effect of CBD, tetrahydorcannabidnol (THC) and cannabinol (CBN). We have found that both CBD and CBN appear to be able to reduce the neurohyperactivity in the PTZ model along with the seizure like activity in the transgenic model. THC on the other hand appears to have little to no effect beyond simple sedation. It also appears that when applied together CBD and THC may act synergistically to increase the effect of CBD. This study would then support the use of cannabinoids for the treatment of epileptic seizures.