Endocannabinoid System

Definition: The endocannabinoid system (ECS) is a cell-signaling network found throughout the human body. It’s made up of cannabinoid receptors, the body’s own cannabinoid-like molecules (endocannabinoids), and the enzymes that build and break them down. It helps regulate processes like pain, appetite, memory, mood, and stress, and it’s the system THC acts on.

What Are the Parts of the Endocannabinoid System?

The ECS has three main pieces. First are the receptors, mainly the CB1 receptor, which is abundant in the brain and nervous system, and CB2 receptors, which are found mostly on immune cells. Second are the endocannabinoids themselves, chiefly anandamide and 2-AG. Third are enzymes such as FAAH and MAGL, which break those messengers down once their job is done.

How Does the Endocannabinoid System Work?

Unlike many signaling molecules, endocannabinoids aren’t stored and waiting. Your cells make them on demand. In the brain they often travel backward across the synapse, from the receiving neuron to the sending one, to turn down how much the sending neuron releases. That makes the ECS a kind of volume control for other signaling systems.

How Do THC and CBD Affect the ECS?

THC produces its high mainly by activating CB1 receptors, mimicking anandamide but lasting much longer because the body’s enzymes don’t clear it the same way. CBD works differently. It binds weakly to CB1 and CB2 and appears to act through several other targets, which is part of why it isn’t intoxicating.

What Don’t We Know Yet?

Popular claims about “balancing” or “boosting” your ECS with supplements run well ahead of the science. Ideas like clinical endocannabinoid deficiency are still hypotheses, and research in people is limited.

Related terms: Cannabinoid Receptors, Cannabinoids, Anandamide, The Entourage Effect

Sources: Lu HC, Mackie K. An Introduction to the Endogenous Cannabinoid System. Biological Psychiatry, 2016 (PMC); National Institute on Drug Abuse: Cannabis (Marijuana).

This entry is for general education and isn’t medical advice.