Share this page!

Nick Jikomes, PhD Profile picture
Twitter logo
Mar 28 • 7 tweets • 5 min read
🧵Mind & Matter content series on @Leafly.

A written content series with a new article each month exploring the relationship between humanity and psychoactive drugs.

In this thread, I will collect links to each article in the series.

All articles: leafly.com/news/tags/mind…

1/
"Death and psychedelics: How science is reviving this ancient connection"

Explores the relationship between #psychedelics & death. It integrates the perspective of thinkers ranging from Timothy Leary to Aldous Huxley to @BrianMuraresku.

Read here: leafly.com/news/science-t…

2/
"Would psychedelic therapy work w/o tripping?"

Inspired by convos w/ scientists like David Nichols, @DEOlsonLab & others, explores the question of whether #psychedelics subjective effects are required for any of their therapeutic benefits.

Read here: leafly.com/news/science-t…

3/
"Is your drug a psychedelic, a dissociative, or an empathogen?"

Why do different psychoactive drugs have such divergent effects on consciousness? Unpacks how the chemistry & effects of #psychedelics, empathogens, and dissociatives differ.

Read here: leafly.com/news/science-t…

4/
"What are the potential risks of microdosing psychedelics?"

Microdosing #psychedelics is a hot topic right now. This article unpacks what the current state of scientific evidence is and whether there is any cause for caution.

Read here: leafly.com/news/science-t…

5/
"Can drug use make you lose your mind?"

Can psychoactive drug use induce psychosis? I unpack the evidence for this for three different kinds of drugs: #psychedelics, amphetamines, and #cannabis.

Read here: leafly.com/news/science-t…

6/
"Is CBD an antiviral COVID drug?"

Recent research has claimed that the CBD may have antiviral properties against #SARSCoV2. I evaluate the latest research in detail based on a conversation I had with scientists doing the work.

Read here: leafly.com/news/science-t…

7/

• • •

Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh
　

Keep Current with Nick Jikomes, PhD

Nick Jikomes, PhD Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

PDF

Twitter may remove this content at anytime! Save it as PDF for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video
  1. Follow @ThreadReaderApp to mention us!

  2. From a Twitter thread mention us with a keyword "unroll"
@threadreaderapp unroll

Practice here first or read more on our help page!

More from @trikomes

Nick Jikomes, PhD Profile picture
Mar 27
Just learned that fluvoxamine, a common SSRI used to treat depression and other psychiatric conditions, increases the half-life of caffeine in the bloodstream.

Like, to an absurd degree:

1/ Image
Fluvoxamine does this by inhibiting a cytochrome P450 enzyme that metabolizes caffeine. Caffeine levels remain elevated for way longer than normal.

This would be bad for sleep.

2/ Image
When people feel tired from sleep disruption, they often naturally use more caffeine, which can lead to dependency, i.e. you will get withdrawal symptoms if you stop.

3/
Read 6 tweets
Nick Jikomes, PhD Profile picture
Jan 16
🧵"Psychoplastogens" = drugs that rapidly induce physical changes in the brain (neuroplasticity).

Examples: ketamine, psilocybin, LSD, DMT, MDMA.

Neuroscientists can literally watch new connections sprout overnight, as in the example below.

Movie:

1/
There are other plasticity-promoting psychoactive drugs, such as SSRIs, that are not psychoplastogens because they induce plasticity on a slower time scale (weeks).

Psychoplastogens can stimulate plasticity when exposed to neurons for <1 hour.

pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.102…

2/
I first learned about this term from the work of @DEOlsonLab.

I discussed his research with him in a recent podcast conversation, including his work on #psychedelics like ibogaine.

Listen here:

3/
Read 6 tweets
Nick Jikomes, PhD Profile picture
Jul 7, 2021
#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…

1/
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?

...

2/
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?

3/
Read 42 tweets
Nick Jikomes, PhD Profile picture
Dec 14, 2020
#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…

1/ Image
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.

2/ Image
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.

3/
Read 25 tweets
Nick Jikomes, PhD Profile picture
Aug 5, 2020
#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.

1/n
#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.

2/ Image
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.

3/ Image
Read 14 tweets
Nick Jikomes, PhD Profile picture
Jul 12, 2020
#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

1/
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.

2/
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…

3/
Read 17 tweets

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!

This site is made by just two indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3/month or $30/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Don't want to be a Premium member but still want to support us?

Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal

Or Donate anonymously using crypto!

Ethereum

0xfe58350B80634f60Fa6Dc149a72b4DFbc17D341E copy

Bitcoin

3ATGMxNzCUFzxpMCHL5sWSt4DVtS8UqXpi copy

Thank you for your support!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Like this author's thread?

Get emails when @trikomes has new unrolls!

Check out other threads from @trikomes!

Read all threads by @trikomes

:(