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🧵#ScienceBreakdown: "Psychedelics promote neuroplasticity through the activation of intracellular 5-HT2A receptors"
Interesting new paper by @DEOlsonLab, @LinTianPhD, et al. looking at why some serotonin 2A receptor agonists promote neuroplasticity, but others do not.
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Interesting new paper by @DEOlsonLab, @LinTianPhD, et al. looking at why some serotonin 2A receptor agonists promote neuroplasticity, but others do not.
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Various small molecules, from endogenous neurotransmitters like serotonin to tryptamine #psychedelics, activate 5HT2A receptors... and yet they can lead to very different effects.
Getting at why this is was one of the basic motivations for this study.
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Getting at why this is was one of the basic motivations for this study.
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One idea here is that various compounds have distinct physical/chemical properties, despite all activating 5HT2A receptors.
For example, they differ in fat solubility. Some can cross cell membranes to get *inside* cells, and some can't...
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For example, they differ in fat solubility. Some can cross cell membranes to get *inside* cells, and some can't...
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#ScienceBreakdown:
"The Phytochemical Diversity of Commercial #Cannabis in the United States."
This is a preprint for a study I recently completed with collaborators at @CUSystem: @bkeegan, @cannagenomics.
Descriptive summary of the study below.
biorxiv.org/content/10.110…
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"The Phytochemical Diversity of Commercial #Cannabis in the United States."
This is a preprint for a study I recently completed with collaborators at @CUSystem: @bkeegan, @cannagenomics.
Descriptive summary of the study below.
biorxiv.org/content/10.110…
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Some questions we asked:
How diverse is #cannabis in the US in terms of cannabinoid + terpene content?
Are similar or distinct chemical phenotypes (chemotypes) seen across US states?
What are the most common chemotypes we reliably see and about how many are there?
...
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How diverse is #cannabis in the US in terms of cannabinoid + terpene content?
Are similar or distinct chemical phenotypes (chemotypes) seen across US states?
What are the most common chemotypes we reliably see and about how many are there?
...
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Do industry labelling systems align w/ underlying chemistry? Any systematic difference, above chance levels, for samples labelled Indica vs. Sativa?
How about strain names? Are any reliably associated w/ certain chemotypes or are they random w/ respect to product chemistry?
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How about strain names? Are any reliably associated w/ certain chemotypes or are they random w/ respect to product chemistry?
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#ScienceBreakdown: A group of scientists (@DEOlsonLab) created an ibogaine analog lacking nasty properties of ibogaine but retaining desirable ones. It is also claimed to be non-hallucinogenic.
Background and dissection of study below.
Full study: sci-hub.st/https://www.na…
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Background and dissection of study below.
Full study: sci-hub.st/https://www.na…
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Background:
Ibogaine is an alkaloid found in iboga, a shrub from West Africa. It's a dissociative psychedelic and can induce intense hallucinations that last for many hours.
Prelim evidence suggests it may help treat addiction, but it can also have serious side-effects.
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Ibogaine is an alkaloid found in iboga, a shrub from West Africa. It's a dissociative psychedelic and can induce intense hallucinations that last for many hours.
Prelim evidence suggests it may help treat addiction, but it can also have serious side-effects.
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You obviously don't want a drug to have severe side-effects, and ibogaine has some, including cardiotoxicity (heart damage).
There's also a push in the psychedelic drug space to develop psychedelic analogs that retain therapeutic properties but don't induce hallucinations.
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There's also a push in the psychedelic drug space to develop psychedelic analogs that retain therapeutic properties but don't induce hallucinations.
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#ScienceBreakdown: Is DMT produced by the pineal gland in the mammalian brain?
I often see this claim on the internet and am surprised how often I'm asked about it. Below, a breakdown of a 2019 study in (mostly) rats looking at this.
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#psychedelics
nature.com/articles/s4159…
I often see this claim on the internet and am surprised how often I'm asked about it. Below, a breakdown of a 2019 study in (mostly) rats looking at this.
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#psychedelics
nature.com/articles/s4159…
For those that don't know, DMT is arguably the most powerful hallucinogen. It's typically smoked/vaporized. Subjective effects are intense but short-acting (minutes). The peak minutes produce a completely transformed experience, utterly alien compared to normal consciousness.
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First, some background on the science:
#DMT has been detected in mammalian tissues before. Usually this has been outside the brain, in very small amounts, making it questionable whether it's physiologically relevant or just a metabolic byproduct.
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#DMT has been detected in mammalian tissues before. Usually this has been outside the brain, in very small amounts, making it questionable whether it's physiologically relevant or just a metabolic byproduct.
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#ScienceBreakdown: "Administration of THC Post-Staphylococcal Enterotoxin B Exposure Protects Mice From Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome."
Full study here: frontiersin.org/articles/10.33…
Breakdown of the study in this thread.
#cannabis
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Full study here: frontiersin.org/articles/10.33…
Breakdown of the study in this thread.
#cannabis
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Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) = deadly condition where lungs get super inflamed b/c immune system responds too strongly. This leads to lots of collateral damage to throughout the body.
Mortality rate in humans = 38.5%. No current drugs exist that help very much.
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Mortality rate in humans = 38.5%. No current drugs exist that help very much.
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ARDS can be induced by "super antigens," e.g. bacterial proteins like SEB that cause immune system to go haywire. If you expose mice to SEB, 100% die within ~one week.
Basic question: can death from ARDS be prevented by an immunosuppressive like THC?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superanti…
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Basic question: can death from ARDS be prevented by an immunosuppressive like THC?
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Superanti…
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