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Abstract #3375

Hippocampal Gray Matter of Cannabis Users Is Correlated with Cannabidiol Obtained from Hair Analysis

Traute Demirakca1, Gabriele Ende1, Alexander Sartorius2, Nadja Meyer1, Helga Welzel1, Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg2, Gisela Skopp3, Karl Mann4, Derik Hermann4

1Neuroimaging, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany; 2Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany; 3Institute of Forensic and Traffic Medicine, Heidelberg, Germany; 4Department of Addictive Behavior and Addiction Medicine, Central Institute of Mental Health

Studies of hippocampal volume and tissue composition in chronic cannabis users revealed divergent results. None of these studies has accounted for the proportion of delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) included in the consumed cannabis products. We present the first voxel-based-morphometry (VBM) analysis that takes the results of a hair analysis of the cannabinoids into account. Although hippocampal volume and tissue composition showed no significant differences between groups, a significant correlation of unmodulated hippocampal gray matter and CBD was observed bilaterally, indicating a positive influence and neuroprotective properties of CBD on hippocampal neurons.