ChemRxivDecember 27, 2017Ryan A Shenvi, Shun Hirasawa, Min Cho et al.1 citation
preprint
Salvinorin A (SalA) is a potent and selective agonist of the kappa-opioid receptor (KOR), but its instability has frustrated medicinal chemistry efforts. Treatment of SalA with weak bases like DBU leads to C8 epimerization with loss of receptor affinity and signaling potency. Here we show that replacement of C20 with H and replacement of O6 with CH2 stabilizes the SalA scaffold relative to its...
Seer (KOR), Thinning and Brief Excursion (2016) are three videogames that attempt to proceduralize characteristics of the experience of the hallucinogenic chemical Salvinorin A, the active component of the sage variety salvia divinorum. The purpose of these experiments is to explore the boundaries of representations of space and self in digital virtual worlds, as well as to attempt to convey...
Columbin (1) is a furanolactone diterpene isolated from the roots of Jateorhiza and Tinospora species. These species generally grow in Asia and Africa and have been used in folk medicine for their apparent analgesic and antipyretic activities. Columbin (1) is of particular interest due to its structural similarity to the known kappa-opioid receptor (KOR) agonist salvinorin A. Given that the KOR...
June 30, 2017Mohamed Safiullah Munsoor, C. Z. Sa'ari
Contemplative practices form the cornerstone of Islam and infiltrate every facet of life. These can be categorized into seven main types of practices, ranging from stillness through generative, ritual, activist, relational and creative to movement. Yet these practices are not very well known as compared to Buddhist meditation, Hindu yogic systems or Christian monastic practices. The ‘tree of...
Background. The new psychoactive drugs (NPD) are those that represent a danger to public health and are not prohibited by conventions on international narcotics. The concept also includes new contexts and new routes of consumption as well as novel ways of distribution, notably Internet. The risks associated with NPD consumption are largely unknown to users and to health care providers....
Citation: Thompson WE (2017) In Summary: A High by Any Other Name: Exploring the Motivations for Consumption of ‘Legal Highs’. J Drug Abuse. Vol. 3 No. 2:10 A large number of legal, semi-legal, synthetic, and organic drugs are sold online and through commercial vendors as novelties, often bearing the label “not for human consumption.” This qualitative field study was based on extensive...
WHAT IS KNOWN ON THE SUBJECT?: Novel psychoactive substances (NPS) include synthetic drugs mimicking the effects of illicit drugs, e.g. synthetic cannabinoids, and herbs such as Salvia divinorum. NPS are substances that can trigger hallucinations and other effects altering the mind, and are currently uncontrolled by the United Nations' 1961 Narcotic Drugs/1971 Psychotropic Substances...
Some of the most compelling evidence supporting an association between cannabinoid agonists and psychosis comes from controlled laboratory studies in humans. Randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover laboratory studies demonstrate that cannabinoid agonists, including phytocannabinoids and synthetic cannabinoids, produce a wide range of positive, negative, and cognitive symptoms...
Negative affective states can increase the rewarding value of drugs of abuse and promote drug taking. Chronic cocaine exposure increases levels of the neuropeptide dynorphin, an endogenous ligand at kappa opioid receptors (KOR) that suppresses dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens (NAc) and elicits negative affective states upon drug withdrawal. However, there is evidence that the effects...
There have been very limited reports of the euphoria experienced under the influence of Coleus blumei--part of a large genus with similarities to various mints and herbs, naturally found in abundance and popular in home gardens. There have been reports of similar properties to Salvia divinorum, which contains the psychoactive neocleordane diterpene salvinorin-A. We present a case of a man in...