Sea Urchin Eggs Plus Marijuana Equal Amazing New Drugs

[candy_kid]

I thought this was a pretty cool article and was surprised to see it hadn't been posted yet (as far as I could find) -- enjoy

Chem Lab: Sea Urchin Eggs Plus Marijuana Equal Amazing New Drugs

Chemists have created a collection of molecules that may have effects superior to marijuana. They are hybrids of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the psychoactive ingredient in weed, and anandamide, the euphoria-causing chemical found in sea urchin eggs.

Researchers intend to use the hybrids as tools to better understand the endocannabinoid system, which partially controls pleasure and pain signals.
In the December issue of Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry, scientists from Organix, a small research and development firm, explained that THC and anandamide each have their own unique advantages and disadvantages.
Anandamide starts working faster than its marijuana-derived counterpart, but it is more quickly destroyed by the body. A fusion of the two chemicals may last longer while maintaining an equal or stronger effect.


At the beginning of the project, organic chemists made a bunch of slightly different molecules that resembled both of their natural inspirations -- THC and anandamide. Once those chemicals had been synthesized, other researchers tested them on the proteins that are stimulated by marijuana.

Checking the effects of slight tweaks to the shape of a molecule is called SAR -- a structure-activity relationship study. Although the researchers at Organix did not comment on the recreational potential of their new chemicals, their SAR data makes it very clear that the new drugs push the same pleasure buttons as THC and anandamide.


Toward the end of the study, they gave the best experimental chemicals to mice. Small amounts of the most potent molecule prevented them from pulling their tails away from a hot surface. That test, called a tail-flick assay, showed that the new drug is a rather powerful painkiller.


http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2...ab-hybrid.html

Reputation Comments on this post:

	Great article
	Interesting article, good find
	interesting article.
	Very interesting, thanks for sharing.
	Very interesting, thanks!

[23smooches]

It amazes me how humans are so obsessed with inebreation. We are constantly seeking new ways to get to the next level of consciousness. This is a cool article, btw. It gets me thinking...

[candy_kid]

true eh- there's so many possibilities this could hold in the future; new non-addictive pain killers on the pharm market, new even more potent and incredible thc based research chemicals, not to mention the help it could bring for people with cancer who cant get marijuana in places because its 'evil' or whatever-- maybe this could even stumble upon an answer to that the whole thc working towards curing cancer all those articles were excited about a few months back --> I'm definitely happy the researches weren't trying to avoid the euphoria side of things 'just because' like they do with so much else

it makes me wonder too how many other recreational drugs are out there waiting to be discovered even; swim was starting to feel that while all these new drugs in the past couple of years are amazing, the classics and typically the ones of the first few discovered in each of their their classes would always be the most powerful and enjoyable -- lsd, dmt, 4-ho-dmt, mescaline, herion, amphetamine, mdma, thc... until now

[AntiAimer]

Originally Posted by candy_kid

it makes me wonder too how many other recreational drugs are out there waiting to be discovered even; swim was starting to feel that while all these new drugs in the past couple of years are amazing, the classics and typically the ones of the first few discovered in each of their their classes would always be the most powerful and enjoyable -- lsd, dmt, 4-ho-dmt, mescaline, herion, amphetamine, mdma, thc... until now

Thousands and thousands of never before used drugs are out there. The pharmaceutical companies probably synthesis a new drug daily.

Anyways, Smurf assumes that there are only trace amounts or else Sea Urchin eggs would have been abused ages ago and/or sold all over the internet like LSA containing seeds.

[guncow]

Sea Urchin Farm here SWIM comes!

[Matt The Funk]

I thought anandamide was a natural cannabinoid found in humans brains. Or something similiar to that (been a while since I've been that into cannabis's effects on the brain).

[motorhead]

Get swim a trip report and a recipe and he'll bust out the scuba gear.

[Ontherooftops]

From my understanding anandamide is indeed in the human brain and is part of our natural pain response. While the crossing of anandamide and THC could yield interesting results, a sea urchin farm or scuba gear most likely isnt going to give anyswiys any kicks. If swim remembers correctly, anandamide doesn't cross the BBB in its natural state.

[El Calico Loco]

How long before rich kids start smoking caviar?


ECL