Enzymatic pathways that regulate endocannabinoid signaling in the nervous system

The current state of the four major pathways for endocannabinoid metabolism that includes anandamide degradation, anandamide biosynthesis, 2-AG degradation, and 2-AG biosynthesis have been reviewed. Some of these pathways are relatively well characterized in terms of participating enzymes and the advent of specific research tools to probe their function in vivo. For other pathways, enzymes have been identified, but the specific roles that these proteins play remain to be clarified. Although these metabolic pathways present a unique set of experimental opportunities and challenges, common themes can also be selected from a global review of research into their composition and regulation. These themes include strong correlation between the extent of understanding of a specific metabolic pathway and the quality of genetic and pharmacological tools available to probe its functions; molecular events that occur between endocannabinoid production and degradation; and the discrimination of specific physiological functions for anandamide and 2-AG.