Competition of Δ 9-Tetrahydrocannabinol with Estrogen in Rat Uterine Estrogen Receptor Binding
Abstract
Direct competition experiments with Δ 9-tetrahydrocannibinol (Δ 9-THC) and estradiol in binding assays with rat uterine cytosol estrogen receptors showed that Δ 9-THC was a weak, but nevertheless significant, competitor for binding to cytoplasmic estrogen receptors. These data support, at the molecular level, the observations that Δ 9-THC has a weak estrogenic activity (at least the ability to bind to estrogen receptors). Moreover, estrogen-like binding suggests that Δ 9-THC, acting at the level of estrogen receptor, causes a primary estrogenic effect rather than an indirect or secondary phenomenon.
- Publication:
-
Science
- Pub Date:
- September 1977
- DOI:
- 10.1126/science.897662
- Bibcode:
- 1977Sci...197.1189R