UNews - Rob McDonald

Can CBD help prevent cognitive decline in aging?

caroline.zentner — Mon, 10 Nov 2025 20:36:28 +0000

Neuroscientists at the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience (CCBN) at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge have gotten one step closer to a definitive answer in their research with mice.

Their study, Effects of cannabidiol (CBD) treatment on age-related cognitive decline in C57 mice, published in Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience, has shown some promising results for certain types of cognitive functioning.

Drs. Rob McDonald (at left) and Behroo Mirza Agha are investigating the effects of CBD on the aging process in mice.

“There’s a lot of work to be done, but we’re very encouraged with this result,” says Dr. Rob McDonald, CCBN neuroscience professor and principal investigator on the study. “We need more studies; there are so many parameters that need to be worked out. And then, even when we get something that we’re very confident in, you have to go to humans and do double blind, randomized studies.”

Normal aging is associated with some cognitive decline, unlike Alzheimer’s disease where memory becomes increasingly impaired and cognitive abilities are lost. Lead researcher, Dr. Behroo Mirza Agha (BSc ’16, MSc ’18, PhD ’23), a postdoctoral fellow, and her team investigated the effects of CBD in the normal aging process of mice.

The research team took a group of ordinary mice and divided them into two groups when they reached 14 months of age (roughly equivalent to a human in their mid to late 40s). One group of mice received a daily dose (equivalent to a moderate amount) of CBD derived from Cannabis sativa obtained from ULethbridge biology professor Dr. Igor Kovalchuk’s lab. The control group received no CBD. The treatment continued daily for seven months.

Then both groups of mice were tested on several measures of functioning, including their ability to recognize a new object, walk on a balance beam, find a hidden platform in a pool of opaque water and remember in which of two environments they received a mild shock. These measures provided an indication of their object memory, motor function, emotional memory, spatial navigation and memory, which are linked to different networks in the brain, including ones centred on the perirhinal cortex, motor cortex, hippocampus and the amygdala.

“In the novel recognition task, both groups performed well; they could recognize the novel object,” says Mirza Agha. “However, when we did a one-month retention test, the mice in the CBD group could recognize the novel object, but mice in the control group didn’t.”

In the spatial navigation water task, both groups were slow to find the hidden platform in the pool during their seven training days. However, on the eighth day the CBD group found the platform faster than the control group. And when the platform was removed, the CBD group spent more time in the area where the platform had been located.

Both groups of mice performed equally well on the balance beam test, as well as remembering in which environment the shock was delivered and preferring the safe environment.

Researchers examined the brains of the mice for markers of inflammation, and they found the CBD group had less inflammation in the hippocampus, a central brain region crucial for spatial navigation and memory which has been shown to functionally deteriorate in aging and Alzheimer’s disease.

“Another take-home message from our study was that consumption of CBD for that long did not appear to have any negative effect on any of our animals,” says Mirza Agha. “However, it is important to note that not all potential effects were assessed like changes to internal organs and immune systems.”

The results clearly show that CBD improved long-term retention in the novel object recognition test and that it improved spatial memory consolidation. But does this mean that middle-aged people should start taking CBD? The researchers advise caution.

“This animal study doesn’t mean that now everybody should take CBD,” says Mirza Agha. “While it’s widely available, legal and affordable, we are now looking at its therapeutic potential and whether it’s safe to use widely as a medicine or not. Just because our study showed there were no clear negative effects of taking CBD on sensory, motor, motivational and cognitive functions at that dose doesn’t necessarily mean that everybody should take it. I think it needs to be supervised by a medical professional, and we need more research into the long-term effects of daily usage on both the brain and body.”

Funding from the Alzheimer’s Society to further research into the causes of sporadic Alzheimer’s disease

caroline.zentner — Wed, 20 Sep 2023 17:13:33 +0000

According to Alzheimer’s Disease International, many factors have been linked to the development of dementia. While some risk factors, such as age or family history, can’t be modified, other risk factors, such as exercise, smoking, alcohol consumption and obesity, can be altered. Those modifiable risk factors are of particular interest to ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge neuroscientist Dr. Rob McDonald. He recently received funding from the Alzheimer Society of Alberta and Northwest Territories to further his research into the causes of sporadic Alzheimer’s disease (SAD).

World Alzheimer’s Month is September, a month intended to raise awareness and challenge the stigma around Alzheimer’s disease and all types of dementia. The grant is part of the society’s Hope for Tomorrow Research Competition, with $1 million in funding distributed to five Alzheimer’s and dementia research projects in Alberta through a partnership between the Society and Campus Alberta Neuroscience.

“I’m grateful to the Alzheimer’s Society for this funding, which will help expand the research we’re doing to discover the factors that cause the disease,” says McDonald, who works out of the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience. “This work will help lay a foundation for further research to pinpoint the best treatments for the various subtypes of SAD we are hypothesizing.”

“We are excited to congratulate the Alberta-based researchers awarded over $1 million to help the ever-growing number of people affected by dementia,” said Dr. George Andrews, CEO of the Alzheimer Society of Alberta and Northwest Territories. “By funding these researchers, we continue to meet our $5-million commitment to vigorous, peer-reviewed research that provides help for today and hope for tomorrow. Thanks to the generosity of funders and individual donors, the innovations happening right here in our region can make a major impact on the advancement of dementia research worldwide.”

McDonald’s research focuses on late-onset or sporadic Alzheimer’s disease, the most common type of the disease. SAD is more difficult to research because of the presumed interactions between genetics and lifestyle factors, which can vary from person to person.

The research team is working with a model where mice have been specifically bred with gene polymorphisms, which are alterations in specific DNA sequences.

The researchers will assess brain and body changes in the mutant mice models in combination with different lifestyle factors. In the second part of the project, they’ll test the effect of exercise and cognitive training on the mutant mice.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge researchers receive grant for further exploration into the causes of Alzheimer’s disease

caroline.zentner — Wed, 10 May 2023 15:28:50 +0000

Most of the research into Alzheimer’s disease has focused on the familial type where the disease has a strong genetic component. What might come as a surprise is that 90 to 95 per cent of cases are late-onset or sporadic Alzheimer’s disease (SAD), an area where researchers at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge are focusing their efforts.

SAD is much more difficult to research because of the presumed interactions between genetics and lifestyle factors, which can vary from person to person. Regardless of how complicated it might be, Dr. Rob McDonald, a neuroscientist with the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience, believes that’s precisely the direction research needs to take. Now he and Dr. Igor Kovalchuk, a ULethbridge chemistry professor with expertise in cannabis extracts, have been awarded $250,000 through the federal government’s New Frontiers in Research Fund. They’ll be joined by Tony Montina, a ULethbridge expert in metabolomics, which is the study of metabolites in cells, fluids and tissues.

“Our theory is the following: If you take a large population of sporadic patients, they would fall into subgroups or subtypes,” says McDonald. “The actual factors causing their Alzheimer’s disease would be different for each subtype. The clinical outcome can be quite similar, but the co-factors causing it can be different. Depending on the co-factors people have, different mechanisms are going to be triggered and the pathology will be different, so you have to treat it differently.”

The researchers will be using a model where mice have been specifically bred with gene polymorphisms, which are alterations in specific DNA sequences.

“The gene mutations we’re using are of interest for their potential roles in inflammation and insulin regulation,” says McDonald.

The researchers will assess brain and body changes in the mutant mice models alone and in combination with different lifestyle changes (stress and diet). In the second part of their project, they’ll assess the effects of targeted cannabinoid treatments on the mutant mice with the lifestyle modifications by looking at brain pathology, body changes and cognitive impairments associated with SAD.

“Marijuana is made up of at least 400 chemical entities and 100 of those are phytocannabinoids,” says McDonald. “They have these compelling properties and people are interested in how they may target some of the pathologies associated with different diseases.”

Kovalchuk will create cannabinoid extracts with different combinations and strengths to try to target the mechanisms the researchers suspect are activated in these subtypes. The makeup of the extract will vary according to the type of gene polymorphism and lifestyle factor being targeted.

“It’s really getting at a more personalized kind of medicine or treatment and that’s very exciting,” says McDonald.

A recent development in the field is the ability to conduct genome-wide association studies or GWAS. Researchers have identified 100 or more genes mutations that are associated with the sporadic version — inherited and random mutations that do not cause SAD by themselves.

“These mutations could make people more susceptible to other factors, like lifestyle factors, than a normal person,” says McDonald. “One person may have a gene polymorphism and age nicely, but another person who has, for example, a poor diet or is often stressed, may descend into dementia faster.”

McDonald has started working with researchers in Montreal who can easily determine the types of polymorphism that exist in a patient. From there, they hope to provide patients with advice on what to avoid in their lifestyles.

“We know that exercise and different kinds of cognitive experiences and training are beneficial to brain health,” says McDonald. “Our study should help lay a foundation for further research to pinpoint the best treatments for the various subtypes of SAD we are hypothesizing.”

The Research Support Fund supports a portion of the costs associated with managing the research funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, such as salaries for staff who provide administration support, training costs for workplace health and safety, maintenance of libraries and laboratories, and administrative costs associated with obtaining patents for inventions.

CCBN to create dynamic imaging research program

trevor.kenney — Wed, 02 May 2018 17:14:28 +0000

Researchers surmise that Alzheimer’s disease can start 20 or 30 years before any signs or symptoms appear, but they don’t know exactly what’s going on in the brain in those early stages of the disease.

Dr. Robert Sutherland is the principal investigator for the program that is designed to capture Alzheimer’s disease in its earliest stages.

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge neuroscientists want to track the gradual emergence of Alzheimer’s disease through a state-of-the-art imaging research program that could ultimately lead to earlier diagnoses, prevention strategies and evaluation of new treatments.

Dr. Robert Sutherland, principal investigator, and co-investigators, Drs. Robert McDonald, Bruce McNaughton and Majid Mohajerani, will primarily use rodent models to understand the underlying biological processes associated with the development of Alzheimer’s disease.

“Alzheimer’s disease appears to be the result of the interaction of positive and negative risk factors, such as education, smoking and hypertension,” says Sutherland. “We want to know the precise mechanisms at work between these early risk factors and the development of Alzheimer’s disease.”

Building on the specialized infrastructure already available at the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience, the research program will focus on the trajectory of Alzheimer’s disease on functional and physiological processes in an effort to understand how the interactions between genetics, epigenetics and physiology produce key pathology. The group of researchers will conduct experiments on rodents from adolescence to old age, roughly six weeks to six months of age, looking at genetic makeup, environmental interventions and potential drug therapies while measuring behaviour, biological markers and imaging the brain. Among the factors to be evaluated are circadian rhythms (sleep/wake cycles), cognitive reserve (the capacity to maintain normal cognitive function in the presence of pathology) and early life stress.

“Knowledge of the mechanisms at work in Alzheimer’s disease will be extremely useful for finding early diagnostic methods, discovering interventions that are effective earlier in the course of the disease, and for finding new preventive strategies,” says Sutherland.

The research team expects to develop an animal platform that will quickly predict which treatments and preventive measures will be effective in Alzheimer’s disease, thus giving drug and academic labs and international partners the chance to test candidate therapeutics before clinical trials.

“Our proposal will lead to faster and more predictable development of treatments for Alzheimer’s disease,” says Sutherland. “In addition, our work will identify the independent importance of positive and negative risk factors in Alzheimer’s disease.”

Seed funding was provided through the Hope for Tomorrow Dementia Research Catalyst Grant from the Alzheimer Society of Alberta and Northwest Territories. The grant is a one-time funding opportunity providing $1 million. The funds must be matched for a total $2-million investment to advance dementia research in Alberta.

“We are pleased to award the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge team funds from the Hope for Tomorrow Grant to further their research,” says Chris Lane, president of the Board of Directors, Alzheimer Society of Alberta and Northwest Territories. “Ongoing research brings hope to those living with the disease and highlights the importance of quality dementia research right here in Alberta.”

The $500,000 grant awarded to the U of L has been matched by the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, Polaris Award fund, CAIP Chair Award in Brain Aging & Dementia, Harley Hotchkiss Memorial Fund, Bette Beswick and an anonymous donor.

“We are very grateful to the Alzheimer Society of Alberta and Northwest Territories for this grant and to our generous donors who have provided matching funding,” says Sutherland. “This grant will enable us to gain an understanding of the mechanisms at work in the earliest stages of Alzheimer’s disease.”

UNews - Rob McDonald

Can CBD help prevent cognitive decline in aging?

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