Newsgroups: alt.drugs
From: [N--l] at [goldeni.demon.co.uk] ("Neil M. Montgomery")
Subject: Re: What in pot gets you hungry...
Date: Tue, 10 May 1994 13:46:06 +0000

> 
> One of my BIO teachers said a year or two ago that they found a receptor
> in the brain that THC binds to that resembled a receptor of a hormone
> that is linked to hunger!!! I have no documentation on this and did not
> pursue the matter further since I din't  smoke at the time. But the
> teacher does smoke(I've sparked with him since) and is a VERY thorough
> researcher and I believe him. If he saw it, it's probably in a journaL
> somewhere!!! Hope this  helps!!!
> 

	Several scientists, including Dr.Roger Pertwee of Aberdeen
	University, Scotland and Prof.Raphael Mechoulam of the Hebrew
	University of Jerusalem, towards the end of 1992 discovered 
	a compound (anandamide) produced in the brain that mimics, in 
	almost every respect the plant material; this means that the brain 
	has a cannabinoid neurochemical system with a special receptor and
	specific mediator. 

	The receptors (CN1) are found in high concentrations in a
	variety of sites in the brain including those that effect
	appetite. These receptors are stimulated either by the 
	body's 'anandamide' system or cannabis. Similar receptors 'CN2'
	have recently been discovered in the spleen (Pertwee).

	This research is very new :

	"I am under the impression that the cannabinoid receptor-
	mediator system may prove to be of considerable importance
	and may turn out to be yet another one of the major receptor-
	transmitter systems which govern not only our day-to-day
	functioning but also our emotional life."...."The existence
	of a plant which has a constituent that binds to this
	particular receptor is presumably a quirk of nature."

	Raphael Mechoulam, March '94.

	In the mid-sixties Mechoulam et al isolated delta-9 thc; he
	knows his stuff.

	ISN'T NATURE WONDERFUL!

	Neil.

-- 
Neil M. Montgomery

        "KEEP THE HORSE AT THE WATER 'TILL IT DRINKS!"