Assessment of the free radical scavenging potential of cannabidiol under physiological conditions: Theoretical and experimental investigations

• Published in: Journal of molecular liquids 2022-01, Vol.346, p.118277, Article 118277
• Main Authors: Boulebd, Houssem, Pereira, David M., Amine Khodja, Imene, Hoa, Nguyen Thi, Mechler, Adam, Vo, Quan V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Antiradical activity; Cannabidiol; DFT calculations; Kinetic study; Structure-activity relationship
• ISSN: 0167-7322
• DOI: 10.1016/j.molliq.2021.118277

[Display omitted] •The antiradical potential of cannabidiol (CBD) under physiological conditions has been examined.•The main antiradical mechanisms have been investigated using DFT-based computational methods.•The impact of CBD on basal intracellular ROS levels has been assessed.•CBD is a potent radical scavenger in water at pH = 7.4, but an ineffective radical scavenger in lipid media.•CBD has no antioxidant effect at non-toxic concentrations under basal cell conditions. Cannabidiol (CBD) is one of the most important cannabinoids found in cannabis with well-characterized biological effects. The radical scavenging activity is one of these activities that has received much attention in recent years; experimental studies however regularly use environments that do not reflect physiological conditions. Here we describe a systematic study of the radical scavenging activity of CBD under physiological conditions using theoretical and experimental methodologies. The results suggest that CBD can be an effective radical scavenger in aqueous solution; however, it exhibits only weak radical scavenging activity in pentyl ethanoate solvent. Data on the impact of CBD on basal intracellular ROS levels of a human non-cancer cell line and a human cancer cell line also indicates that CBD does not show any statistically significant antiradical activity at non-toxic concentrations in the living environment. This suggests that CBD is not a good radical scavenger in basal cell conditions.