Ricerc@Sapienza

Objective: Dravet syndrome is a rare neurodevelopmental disease, characterized by general cognitive impairment and severe refractory seizures. The majority of patients carry the gene mutation SCN1A, leading to a defective sodium channel that contributes to pathogenic brain excitability. A γ-aminobutyric acid (GABAergic) impairment, as in other neurodevelopmental diseases, has been proposed as an additional mechanism, suggesting that seizures could be alleviated by GABAergic therapies.

Background: Clostridium difficile toxin A is responsible for colonic damage observed in infected patients. Drugs able to restore Clostridium difficile toxin A-induced toxicity have the potential to improve the recovery of infected patients. Cannabidiol is a non-psychotropic component of Cannabis sativa, which has been demonstrated to protect enterocytes against chemical and/or inflammatory damage and to restore intestinal mucosa integrity.

Cannabidiol (CBD), one of the two major active principles present in Cannabis sativa, is gaining great interest among the scientific community for its pharmaceutical, nutraceutical and cosmetic applications. CBD can be prepared either by chemical synthesis or extraction from Cannabis sativa (hemp). The latter is more convenient from several points of view, including environmental and economic, but mainly for the absence of harmful organic solvents generally employed in the chemical synthesis.