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Ythan
ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ


Registered: 08/08/97
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Scientists Discover Two New Cannabinoids
#26421094 - 01/07/20 01:20 PM (4 years, 22 days ago) |
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Scientists Discover Two New Cannabinoids www.vice.com
The plant Cannabis sativa produces more than 400 chemicals, but only one, THC, gets you high. Or so it seems. A group of Italian researchers announced on December 30th the discovery of two new cannabinoids, chemicals produced by weed like THC and CBD.
The first, tetrahydrocannabiphorol (THCP), is allegedly 30 times more potent than THC, they claim. Whether that means it gets you 30 times as stoned—or if it’s even psychoactive at all—is still unknown. But in mice, it appeared THCP was more active than THC at lower doses. The scientists also found cannabidiphorol (CBDP), a cousin to CBD, the popular wellness additive.
The discovery of THCP, published in Scientific Reports, could explain some of the variability in getting high—why smoking different marijuana blends can give notably different feelings. It could also explain some of the medicinal aspects of THC, which is used to treat nausea and appetite loss in cancer and HIV patients, among other things.
Cannabis flowers are like little factories that produce hundreds of chemicals, around 60 of which are cannabinoids. These drugs mimic chemicals the body naturally produces to balance inflammation. Few cannabinoids are well studied, but have many promising medical applications.
Tetrahydrocannabivarin (THCV), for example, may be able to regulate obesity because it can moderate glucose levels. However, THCV concentrations in most cannabis strains are so small that smoking a joint everyday probably won’t prevent you from getting diabetes.
The amounts of THCP and CBDP found in the study were also low. The researchers analyzed a low-THC cannabis variety called FM2, which is grown by Italy’s military.
THCP and CBDP may be more abundant in other breeds, however, which would take investigating. It wouldn’t be difficult to specially breed cannabis plants to produce high amounts of these novel cannabinoids. Some startup may even try to grow them in a vat of yeast.
For now, what CBDP and THCP could be useful for is still unknown, but it’s possible these chemicals could treat certain conditions better than their counterparts. They could also have entirely novel medical applications—or none at all. We won’t know more without clinical trials, which could be several years away.
Earlier last year, the same Italian research team announced the discovery of two other previously unknown cannabinoids: CBDB and THCB. While THCB seemed to cause pain relief in mice, just as little is known about the properties of these two chemicals.
This body of research demonstrates how much more we have to learn by studying marijuana—research that has been stifled due to marijuana’s status as an illicit drug in most of the world. Illegal drugs are expensive to study, and in the case of cannabis, a lot of weed available for study is low quality, unlike the dank buds regular people typically use.
The discovery of these cannabinoids is thanks to advancements in mass spectrometry, a tool scientists use to weigh the mass of atoms and identify compounds. The Italian researchers next plan to tease out the potential applications for these cannabinoids, such as investigating CBDP’s anti-convulsive and anti-inflammatory properties.
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tyrannicalrex
Strange R



Registered: 04/24/03
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Re: Scientists Discover Two New Cannabinoids [Re: Ythan]
#26421241 - 01/07/20 02:35 PM (4 years, 22 days ago) |
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Love it!
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searching



Registered: 06/08/11
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Re: Scientists Discover Two New Cannabinoids [Re: tyrannicalrex]
#26421681 - 01/07/20 06:34 PM (4 years, 22 days ago) |
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On the one hand scientists may find some therepeutic use for isolated cannabinoids like these.
On the other hand this will give chemists a new compound to modify and create even more potent synthetic cannabinoids which will end up being sold as research chemicals online.
It is what it is. It'll all play out the way it has to. When weed is legalized federally people won't have much need to mess around with the synthetic cannabinoids.
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tyrannicalrex
Strange R



Registered: 04/24/03
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Loc: subtropics
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Re: Scientists Discover Two New Cannabinoids [Re: searching]
#26421706 - 01/07/20 06:46 PM (4 years, 22 days ago) |
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Agree 100%. The people in charge are just prolonging the inevitable. Completely take it off any list ANY list and just let it be.
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breeg89
i'll tell ya hwhat

Registered: 05/04/11
Posts: 3,120
Loc: mass
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Re: Scientists Discover Two New Cannabinoids [Re: searching]
#26421929 - 01/07/20 08:13 PM (4 years, 22 days ago) |
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Quote:
searching said: On the one hand scientists may find some therepeutic use for isolated cannabinoids like these.
On the other hand this will give chemists a new compound to modify and create even more potent synthetic cannabinoids which will end up being sold as research chemicals online.
It is what it is. It'll all play out the way it has to. When weed is legalized federally people won't have much need to mess around with the synthetic cannabinoids.
Nah, THCP is just THC with two extra carbons on the alkyl chain, and scientists were already aware that increasing the alkyl chain length increases potency at the CB1 receptor. Most of the synthetic cannabinoids don’t share the general THC scaffold anyway (most are indoles). The cool thing from the study is just the potential to ID new, natural psychoactive THC analogs that could help explain differences in the effects of various weed strains that have similar THC levels. It's also pretty cool that THCP potency at CB1 is on par with the crazy potent synthetic shit.
Here's the original paper too by the way: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-56785-1.pdf
Edit - just saw that the THCP concentration is about 1000x lower than the THC level in the strain they looked at in the paper, so THCP probably doesn’t contribute much to psychoactivity in that strain (at least through CB1). But it’d be interesting to see THCP vs THC levels in other strains. Would also be cool if THCP binds other receptors.
Edited by breeg89 (01/07/20 11:40 PM)
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tyrannicalrex
Strange R



Registered: 04/24/03
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Loc: subtropics
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Re: Scientists Discover Two New Cannabinoids [Re: breeg89]
#26424225 - 01/09/20 09:29 AM (4 years, 20 days ago) |
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I love all this science behind the plant now!
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bloodsheen
ChemChaplin



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Re: Scientists Discover Two New Cannabinoids [Re: tyrannicalrex]
#26425274 - 01/09/20 07:13 PM (4 years, 20 days ago) |
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I really doubt we could have gone this long without discovering a useful cannabinoid. I'm waiting for a legit study into how the entourage effect works, there's no way it's just this microscopically present molecule. Anyone who has smoked HT concentrate and gotten high as balls knows from personal experience that it's from the terpenes
This isn't a chemical issue, it's a biochemical or neurochemical issue
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A cautious young fellow named Lodge / Had seat belts installed in his Dodge. / When his date was strapped in / He committed a sin / Without even leaving the garage. That's clever, isn't it?-A boy and his dog
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Fractal420
Psycellium



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Re: Scientists Discover Two New Cannabinoids [Re: bloodsheen]
#26430979 - 01/13/20 10:06 AM (4 years, 16 days ago) |
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So now 115 known cannabinoids if my count is correct?
(I mean within the cannabis plant, not synthetic or whatever)
The article states 400 known chemicals, but I’ve always read 113 with most sources
-------------------- Dreaming of That face again. It's bright and blue and shimmering. Grinning wide And comforting me with it's three warm and wild eyes. Prying open MY third eye
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breeg89
i'll tell ya hwhat

Registered: 05/04/11
Posts: 3,120
Loc: mass
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Re: Scientists Discover Two New Cannabinoids [Re: Fractal420]
#26431924 - 01/13/20 06:35 PM (4 years, 16 days ago) |
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^ They're probably referring to other terpenes and stuff.
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Holybullshit
Stranger
Registered: 01/06/19
Posts: 1,551
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Re: Scientists Discover Two New Cannabinoids [Re: breeg89]
#26450699 - 01/24/20 07:54 PM (4 years, 5 days ago) |
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Yes, not all are cannabinoids.
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