CBD may delay seizures, shorten their duration in late infantile Batten

Treatment with cannabidiol (CBD), a non-psychoactive compound found in the cannabis plant, may have potential to help control seizures in people with late infantile Batten disease, according to new research in a mouse model of the disease.

Data showed that daily CBD treatment did not improve the measured markers of disease progression, but delayed seizure onset and led to shorter seizures, as well as a trend toward longer survival.

“We show that chronic treatment with cannabidiol confers significant anti-seizure benefit to the mouse model of CLN2 disease, and that it does not appear to do so by altering the inflammatory and neuroimmune markers traditionally used to track [the disease’s] progression,” the researchers wrote.

The study, “Chronic oral cannabidiol delays seizure onset and reduces seizure burden in a mouse model of CLN2 disease,” was published in PLOS One.

Recommended Reading

Dec. 8, 2025 News by Marisa Horak, MS

FDA clears late infantile Batten disease gene therapy for testing

CBD explored as possible seizure treatment in CLN2 disease

Batten disease, also known as neuronal ceroid lipofuscinosis (NCL), is the most common group of pediatric neurodegenerative disorders. It is divided into several types, caused by mutations in 14 different genes.

CLN2 disease, historically referred to as classical late infantile Batten disease, typically begins between ages 2 and 4 and is marked by seizures, loss of vision, loss of motor and intellectual skills, and reduced life expectancy.

CBD is a compound found in the cannabis plant. It is not psychoactive, meaning it doesn’t trigger a high, but it has been reported to have other effects, including potential anti-inflammatory and anti-anxiety effects.

Formulations of CBD have been shown to help reduce seizure frequency in people with certain forms of epilepsy, such as Dravet syndrome and Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. While there have been a few anecdotal reports of Batten patients using CBD to help control seizures, “there have been no controlled studies in children with CLN2 disease or animal models of the disease,” the researchers wrote.

Now, a team of researchers in the U.S. evaluated the impact of daily CBD treatment compared with a control treatment, or vehicle, that did not contain CBD in a mouse model of CLN2 disease. One group of mice received flavored gelatin cubes containing CBD, while another group received flavored gelatin cubes without CBD.

Results showed that daily CBD treatment delayed seizure onset: the median age at first seizure was 113 days in the vehicle group and 129 days in the CBD group.

The total number of seizures per mouse was not significantly different between groups, but the average seizure duration per mouse was significantly shorter in mice given CBD. Notably, five of 16 CBD-treated mice never experienced a seizure, while three vehicle-treated mice were also seizure-free but died quite early compared with the expected lifespan.

“We provide evidence that chronic cannabidiol is associated with delayed seizure onset and reduced seizure duration, and even seizure prevention in some … mice during the observational period,” the researchers wrote.

CBD extends survival trend but does not ease disease markers

CBD-treated mice also had a longer median lifespan than those not on CBD, but this difference did not reach statistical significance, meaning it could be due to random chance.

Given the anti-seizure effects and trend toward longer survival, the researchers wondered if CBD treatment may have dampened brain inflammation, which helps drive the progression of CLN2 disease. However, CBD treatment did not reduce the measured markers of inflammation and immune activity in the animals’ brains.

“We show that while long-term treatment with CBD alone did not show a beneficial effect on neuroinflammation or neuroimmune response, it does delay or prevent seizures and reduce their duration, while nearly having a significant impact upon the lifespan of [CLN2 disease] mice,” the researchers wrote. “The reduction of seizure burden coupled with a nearly increased lifespan is a remarkable finding given that the treatment appears not to have affected the well-described [brain pathology] associated with CLN2 disease.”

Taken together, the researchers posited that CBD might be a helpful tool to help control seizures in people with CLN2 disease. But because CBD doesn’t appear to improve the disease-related brain pathology measured in the study, the researchers suggested that this cannabis-derived treatment might be useful in combination with therapies that target the underlying disease directly.

The scientists stressed, however, that this study was done in a small number of mice, so further research is needed to evaluate if and how CBD may help control seizures in people with Batten disease.