The Effects of Cannabis on the Human Reproductive System.
In sitting in class I have learned a tremendous amount about my own body that I had never known before. I find that I am most interested in my reproductive system as I am getting to that age where I am starting to think about future pregnancies. So far I have learned that we should all be careful with our bodies as, "for every action there is an opposite and equal reaction." I have chosen to find out about the effects of drugs, more specifically marijuana, on both male and female reproductive systems.
Marijuana is derived from the plant cannabis sativa and has been grown for over five thousand years. The major source of the psychoactive substance in marijuana is called delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). Along with THC, there are over four hundred other chemicals in the plant, all of which have close to no psychoactive effect. The effects of marijuana reported were lethargy, elation, a dream-like state and tiredness. There are many effects to the oral use of marijuana, some of which are psychological, physiological, cardiovascular, respiratory and neurological.
In searching for evidence of the effect of marijuana on the reproductive system I learned of how they figured out that it does have consequences on males. They found a cellular signaling system that responds to THC as well as to anandamide. Now anandamide is a substance that has been found in human semen and is the chemical that activates a receptor for cannabinoids. Now these may help to regulate sperm functions necessary for fertilizing humans. Now if the brain produces its own THC-like substance, what happens when you smoke and have more of this substance in your brain?
Herbert Schuel, Ph.D. is the University at Buffalo professor of anatomy and cell biology. He introduced findings of male sperm and the effects...
More Human Biology
essays:
The Nervous System: A basic Summary of the nervous system and some little peices on how it is affected by disease and drugs.
... Prolonged use of cocaine causes production of less dopamine, causing the user to require more of the drug. Marijuana, material from the Indian hemp plant (Cannabis sativa), has a potent chemical THC (tetrahydracannibinol) that in ...
A written account of Laboratory work: Body Temperature.
... the effect that ingestion of hot and cold drinks would have on both oral and axilla temperature. Subjects used will be discussed and methodology ... Regulation of body temperature is maintained by homeostasis, working on a feedback system involving a detector, effectors and a control system in ...
Evaluation of the Selected Micronutrient and Energy Intake Against the Nutrient Refernce Values (NRVs) by Using 24-House Dietary Recall Method on a 20 Year- old
... iron (females in particular), magnesium and zinc (females only). The inadequate stores or intake of nutrients can have adverse effects on the physical growth and cognitive development of children (Shinjini and Sunita, 2001). Epidemiological studies have shown that low ...
How does the body achieve the functional silencing of antigen reactive clones?
... location of and the specific cell types involved in clonal deletion has come from the use of animals made transgenic with MHC genes under the control of tissue specific promoters. The value of these systems is ...
The Life of a Homosexual
... flesh and blood, they would accept their kids for who they were. A heterosexual was also interviewed for our knowledge of how the straight feel about the homosexuals. We learned that men have more ...
The Fatal Disease: Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
... the effect Rilutek has on the survival of people with ALS. As I mentioned earlier one of several theories researchers have is that in people with ALS, parts of the nervous system are ...
Seizures; a Misunderstood Cellular Event
... nervous system(CNS) neurons.1 There are many different physiological causes that can result in the occurrence of a seizure, as well as many different kinds of seizures themselves. Throughout this paper, I will explore the effects of seizures ...
Seasonal Affective Disorder
... appears, that due to the deficiency of sunlight some people suffer from these symptoms. The shortened days have a hormonal effect on the body that causes these symptoms, and the use of artificial ...