Are fish the key to faster medical cannabis tests?

Fish aren’t just useful for growing cannabis, but can also speed up the process of sorting medical cannabis strains, according to Israeli researchers.

As reported by ISRAEL21c, companies using a zebrafish model can identify strains and organize them based on therapeutic potential much faster than relying on mice or human models.

Zebrafish have reportedly already been used to determine which strains may help combat sleep problems, seizures, Parkinson’s disease and pain, with additional indications being studied for autism and anxiety.

The zebrafish cannabis testing model was developed by Camanex, the applied science arm for cannabis of MIGAL Galilee Research Institute, and Canonic, a subsidiary of computational biotech company Evogene.

The companies also worked together to cultivate the cannabis varieties before moving into the laboratory.

Earlier this year, researchers from Bar-Ilan University used zebrafish in a sleep study to monitor chromosome activity during periods of rest.

Researchers report that zebrafish have a similar brain structure to humans, albeit much simpler, and because they don’t have skulls, brain activity is easier to monitor.

In 2017, a zebrafish model was used by researchers at the University of Mississippi to determine the anti-epileptic properties of mistletoe and cannabis.

Additional research published in the journal Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry found that zebrafish are an “excellent model organism” to study the endocannabinoid and opioid systems.