A team of researchers from Oregon State University in the United States has discovered in laboratory tests that cannabis sativa, popularly known as surruma in Mozambique, has two components that bind to the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2, the cause of covid-19, preventing it from penetrating healthy human cells in laboratory tests.

O study was published Monday in the academic journal Journal of Nature Products.

The SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus has some spikes on its surface called spike proteins, which are very important to allow it to enter human cells, i.e. infect people.

According to the research observations, the cannabis variety, cannabis sativa, contains low levels of tetrahydrocannabinol, the plant's main psychoactive substance, which can bind to the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 preventing it from penetrating cells.

"These cannabinoid acids are abundant in hemp and in many hemp extracts," explained Richard van Breemen, the researcher who led the study. Van Breemen points out that the components "can be ingested orally" and "have a good safety profile" in humans. They are precursors to substances such as CBD (cannabidiol) that is already used in various food supplements, body lotions and cosmetics.

"This means that substances that inhibit the entry [of the virus] into cells, such as hemp acids, could be used to prevent a SARS-CoV-2 infection," the researcher details.

"Our research showed that hemp components were equally effective against SARS-CoV-2 variants, including variant B.1.1.7 (alpha) and B.1.351 (beta)," Van Breemen advanced.

Van Breemen acknowledges that variants resistant to hemp acids may emerge, but believes that combining vaccines with CBDA and CBGA treatments will make infection more difficult.

Source: publico