Palmitoylethanolamide Modulation of Microglia Activation: Characterization of Mechanisms of Action and Implication for Its Neuroprotective Effects
Laboratory studyOther animals
- Design
- Laboratory study
- Subjects
- Cell cultures: a mouse microglia cell line, primary mouse microglia, mixed mouse brain cell cultures and two human immune cell lines
- Dose used in the study
- 100 micromolar in the culture dish, given 1 hour before a bacterial toxin (lipopolysaccharide)
- Duration
- 6 hours
- What was measured
- Inflammatory proteins and messenger RNA, cell shape, calcium signalling and the electrical activity of nerve cell networks
What the authors reported
The authors reported that palmitoylethanolamide lowered the inflammatory signals produced after the toxin, kept microglia in their branched resting shape, cut calcium responses by about 45 to 49%, and abolished seizure-like over-activity in nerve cell networks. The effects did not run through the TLR4 receptor and partly involved the CB2 cannabinoid receptor.
Limits of this study
A study in cultured cells, much of it in an immortalised cell line. The concentration used is far above the plasma levels measured in people after a dose by mouth. The authors note that CB2 explained only part of the effect. It shows a mechanism in a dish. It does not show an effect in patients. Funding was not visible on the page checked.
Source
Entry checked against the full text at the publisher (MDPI) on 2026-09-21. The dose shown is the dose the researchers used. It is not a recommendation. How to read this page.