Ibogaine and its main metabolite noribogaine provide important molecular prototypes for markedly different treatment of substance use disorders and co-morbid mental health illnesses. However, these compounds present a cardiac safety risk and a highly complex molecular mechanism. We introduce a class of iboga alkaloids - termed oxa-iboga - defined as benzofuran-containing iboga analogs and...
Abstract Substance use and related mental health epidemics are causing increasing suffering and death in diverse communities. 1,2 Despite extensive efforts focused on developing pharmacotherapies for treating substance use disorders, there is an urgent need for radically different therapeutic approaches. 3,4 Ibogaine provides an important drug prototype in this direction, as a psychoactive...
Salvia divinorum is a natural occurring hallucinogen that is traditionally used by the Mazatec Indians of central Mexico. The diterpene salvinorin A was identified as an active component of S. divinorum over 20 years ago, but only recently has biochemical screening indicated that a molecular target of salvinorin A in vitro is the kappa-opioid receptor. We have examined whether salvinorin A, the...