Over the past few decades, tremendous work has been dedicated to understanding how cannabinoids, both endogenous and exogenous, impact the process of learning and memory. Here we attempt to summarize the breadth of this research investigating the role of cannabinoid signaling on episodic or hippocampus-dependent memory. This review will focus primarily on studies using pharmacological approaches, allowing us to discuss the impact of cannabinoids at different phases of the memory formation process. We will briefly provide an overview of the endocannabinoid system and the mechanisms underlying memory formation, then discuss the impact of cannabinoids on memory encoding, consolidation, retrieval, and extinction. Additionally, we examine the impact of cannabinoids on synaptic plasticity and intracellular signaling within the hippocampus related to these processes.
Keywords: Endocannabinoid; Hippocampus; Intracellular signaling; Memory; Plasticity.
Published by Elsevier Inc.