Cannflavin B ameliorates social and anxiety deficits and neuronal systems dysfunction in adolescent rats exposed to prenatal valproic acid

There has been growing interest in natural products as potential therapeutics for the core and comorbid symptoms of autism spectrum disorders. Almost all the studies on autism have focused on the therapeutic benefits of cannabis and its associated cannabinoids. In this study the potential therapeutic efficacy of cannflavin B, a related, yet non-psychoactive component of the Cannabis sativa plant, was evaluated. Using prenatal valproic acid (VPA) exposure in rats, a model that has been widely used to study aspects of autism, we showed that cannflavin B was anxiolytic in the female VPA rats, and normalized sociality in VPA animals of both sexes. When neuronal oscillatory activity was examined, in female VPA rats cannflavin B normalized alterations in low frequency power within the cingulate cortex (Cg), and theta-gamma cross frequency coupling between the dorsal hippocampus (dHIP) and the prefrontal cortex (PFC). In male VPA animals, cannflavin B induced frequency-specific alterations in power within the PFC, Cg, and dHIP and ameliorated the VPA-induced suppression of oscillatory coherence between all three regions. In each brain region, cannflavin B also attenuated the sex-specific VPA-induced elevations in microglia. In vitro, cannflavin B normalized VPA-induced elevations in cortical and HIP neuronal activity and promoted more organized cortical firing. These findings demonstrate cannflavin B normalizes behavioural and neuronal systems function alterations induced by prenatal VPA in rats. The present study highlights the importance of alternative cannabis compounds in autism and other disorders.