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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2018 Mar 28.
Published in final edited form as: Compr Physiol. 2016 Dec 6;7(1):1–15. doi: 10.1002/cphy.c160005

Figure 6.

Figure 6

High-efficacy cannabinoid agonists have biphasic effects on HPA axis activation by stress, while the partial agonist, THC, and antagonists increase HPA axis activation. Our hypothesis for these findings is displayed in this figure. The CB1R-mediated inhibition of HPA axis activation by stress has high eCB tone (as is shown in Fig. 7). As a result, only high efficacy agonists can increase this tone further. Low-efficacy agonists and antagonists will inhibit this tone and “uncover” the HPA axis potentiating CB1R function. We hypothesize based on the data available that the HPA axis potentiating CB1R has low eCB tone.