A team of Australian scientists has demonstrated a novel microencapsulation method designed to improve the absorption and bioavailability of cannabidiol (CBD). Animal tests suggest the new method increases peak concentrations of CBD in the brain by 300 percent compared to CBD oil.
The jury may still be out regarding plenty of supposed medical uses for CBD, a non-psychoactive compound found in cannabis, but researchers are certainly working hard investigating the cannabinoid’s effect on everything from heroin addiction to Parkinson’s tremors. One significant challenge scientists face in researching CBD’s therapeutic uses is the fact that oral CBD formulations have terrible rates of absorption.
CBD oil, for example, when ingested orally can result in plasma and tissue bioavailability as low as 6 percent. Sublingual dosing, or using varieties of inhalation methods, can result in higher levels of absorption but there still remains a huge inconsistency in bioavailability from person to person. For researchers trying to investigate CBD’s potential therapeutic uses this dosage issue is a particular problem, especially for those exploring the compound’s effects on the brain.
A new study, published in the journal Plos One, is describing a novel two-pronged technique designed to heighten the absorption and bioavailability of CBD. The researchers first utilized an established microencapsulation method previously designed to protect therapeutic compounds from degradation in the stomach and increase uptake in the brain.