A plant that looks like moss seems to copy cannabis

There are many hundreds of millions of years ago, mosses and their parents were going in one direction, just like the line of trees and flowering plants. In one way or another, in the vast expanse of geological time that followed, some members of these distant groups of the plant kingdom copied themselves to create something of great interest for the planet. Man: the psychoactive chemical, or cannabinoid, that elevates men.

The recent discovery of another cannabinoid source comes from a liver-related moss-related plant. A genus of the plant, radula, has a handful of species producing a chemical that is very similar to tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) from Cannabis sativaor marijuana.

Why a hepatic that lives and reproduces quite differently from a plant like Cannabis, would make this molecule a mystery. What we do know now, though, is the cannabinoid of the liver and that of Cannabis are almost exactly the same and have fairly similar effects in the mammalian brain.

the radula compound was nicknamed perrottetinene or PET after Radula perrottetii, one of the few hepatic species that composes it. Although the researchers first described perrottetinene in 1994, the way it was compared to THC in terms of structure and activity in the mammalian brain was not yet clear.

In what may be the only chemical synthesis document ever to have thanked the incense sellers for their thanks, Jürg Gertsch of the University of Bern and his colleagues have confirmed the properties of PET that make it similar to THC. Publication October 24 in Progress of science, researchers have shown through a variety of tests that PET derived from these radula species looks and acts a lot like the THC's Cannabis. "Curiosity-based research can lead to interesting results," says Daniele Piomelli, professor of anatomy and neurobiology at the University of California at Irvine, who did not participate in the study. 39; study. "It's a solid, highly believable work that shows that this type of hepatic contains compounds that resemble both structure and pharmaceutical activity to psychoactive cannabinoids." of the cannabis plant. "

To establish this strong similarity, the researchers synthesized forms of PET based on the natural compound. With the help of cell preparations, the research team checked whether the PET molecules bound to brain cell receptors were identical to those of THC, and that is the case. They also checked if PETs fixed brain proteins that THC was not – but no.

The team then examined the degree of potency of PET and THC and found that PET was less potent. They also found effects similar to THC when PET was administered to mice: the animals responded in the same way to both treatments, notably by moving more slowly and having a lower body temperature.

When the researchers evaluated the effects of PET versus THC on inflammatory pathways in the mouse brain, they finally found a difference. Although the psychoactive effects of PET have been less potent, they have reduced some of the molecules associated with inflammation, says study author Michael Schafroth, currently a postdoctoral fellow at the Scripps Research Institute.

In contrast, THC did not alter the levels of these inflammation-related molecules, called prostaglandins. "These prostaglandins are involved in many processes (such as memory loss, neuroinflammation, hair loss and vasoconstriction)," he says. This means that PET is "extremely interesting for medical applications because we can expect fewer adverse effects while having pharmacologically important effects". The reduced potency of PET could also discourage any interest in the hepatic for recreational use, especially at a time when cannabis regulation is becoming more relaxed.

radula Samples were available from the incense vendors that the authors thanked in their thanks. But scattered online descriptions of people who have tried to get high are suggesting limited success. And as liverworts breed without using seeds, "the cultivation and reproduction of radula species containing the cannabinoid could be difficult, "says Gertsch. The pharmaceutical promise of the hepatic could give greater visibility to the modest moss and its parents, known collectively as bryophytes. "Until now, bryophytes are a little neglected in terms of bioprospecting," he notes, referring to the search for organisms that may have medicinal value. "I think it's a good example that liverworts can generate natural products relevant to humans."

This may have already been relevant to the people who live where these species of radula occur naturally, as far as Japan, New Zealand and Costa Rica. It seems that the Maori people of New Zealand use it as a herbal medicine, although not necessarily for its properties similar to those of THC. Gertsch adds, however, that no serious ethnobotanical or ethnopharmacological research confirms such uses.

With a synthetic way to make this compound now established, the next step will be to study it in animal models of inflammatory diseases such as multiple sclerosis, Gertsch explains, comparing it directly with THC activity. .