{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,9]],"date-time":"2026-10-09T04:50:22Z","timestamp":1791521422272,"version":"4.3.4"},"reference-count":50,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,9]],"date-time":"2026-10-09T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1791504000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100000090","name":"Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100000090","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"publisher"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Pharmacol."],"abstract":"<jats:p>Chronic neuroinflammation following traumatic brain injury (TBI) increases the risk of affective disorders and early-onset dementias. Existing anti-inflammatory therapies are limited by systemic side effects with chronic use and by poor brain penetration of newer biologics. Cannabidiol (CBD), a non-euphorigenic phytocannabinoid with a favorable safety profile and multi-target neuroprotective actions, is a promising alternative. Using a songbird microlesion model of learned vocal recovery after targeted damage to the premotor nucleus HVC, we previously showed that systemic CBD (10\u00a0mg\/kg\/day) reduces vocal disruption, inflammatory cytokines, oxidative stress, and synaptic loss. Here we tested the hypothesis that these benefits involve astrocytes. CBD (10\u00a0mg\/kg\/day IM for 7 days) preserved astrocyte viability, attenuated injury-induced lysosomal stress, suppressed reactivity markers (C3, S100A10, aromatase), and upregulated key metabolic and antioxidant transcripts (glutamine synthetase and GCLM) across the interconnected song-control nuclei HVC, RA, and Area X. These changes were accompanied by reduced neuronal apoptosis in lesioned HVC. The results identify astrocyte-associated responses as a candidate cellular substrate of CBD\u2019s circuit-wide protective effects and support its translational potential to mitigate secondary injury and communication deficits after TBI.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fphar.2026.1972787","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,9]],"date-time":"2026-10-09T04:25:57Z","timestamp":1791519957000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Cannabidiol preserves astrocyte viability and attenuates injury-induced glial stress responses across zebra finch song control nuclei"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"17","author":[{"given":"Dylan A.","family":"Marshall","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University","place":["Greenville, NC, United States"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Karen A.","family":"Litwa","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, Brody School of Medicine and East Carolina Diabetes and Obesity Institute at East Carolina University","place":["Greenville, NC, United States"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ken","family":"Soderstrom","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University","place":["Greenville, NC, United States"]}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"B1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"107716","DOI":"10.1016\/j.neuropharm.2019.107716","article-title":"Cannabidiol improves vocal learning-dependent recovery from, and reduces magnitude of deficits following, damage to a cortical-like brain region in a songbird pre-clinical animal model","volume":"158","author":"Alalawi","year":"2019","journal-title":"Neuropharmacology"},{"key":"B2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"3069","DOI":"10.1113\/JP284197","article-title":"Astrocytes in functional recovery following central nervous system injuries","volume":"602","author":"Alhadidi","year":"2024","journal-title":"J. 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