• N&PD Moderators: Skorpio | someguyontheinternet

A Kavalactone Works as a Cannabinoid

Are there any known psychoactive cannabinoids with affinity this weak? I'm not aware of any.
Yeah there are some, pravadoline has an affinity of nearly 3000 nM iirc, and reportedly still produces weak cannabinoid effects in humans - though on the other hand A-796,260 is inactive with a CB1 affinity of 945nM. So this kavalactone with an affinity of 720nM could certainly be an active cannabinoid if it is a full agonist, but equally could be pretty much inactive if it is only a partial agonist.
 
I understand what you're saying Hammilton

Its not like saying one feels serotonin, as I'm sure we can agree that CB1 stimulation has a relatively specific feel to it.

My experience dictates a stoned-like effect similar to Cannabis, yes it does

That is a good point Ham though not only does this have pharmacological merit but its not fair to throw me in with the rest of the crowd in that sense.

Maybe you should conduct the experiment yourself seeing as you seem to be dead against the scientific study from the government I posted which contradicts your assumption.
 
It doesn't contradict my assumption. I'm not making an assumption. I'm looking at the actual evidence and seeing little to go off of to support the claim. This study finds a very weak affinity for one compound of many. Given the levels of that one compound consumed in a typical session, it's probably irrelevant.

What Mad_Scientist doesn't mention is the minimum effective doses for pravadoline. They're awfully high! Looking at Wiki's numbers, they're over 20mg/kg. Up to 100mg/kg. The few experience reports for smoking suggest a lower dose in humans, but there's no analysis of the material used (it's not like these aren't known for being contaminated with other things.

I don't disagree that it does, but humans are notorious for finding compounds which produce effects similar to cannabis in virtually everything they try.

It specifically does not have scientific merit. A double blind administration with rimonabant present in one group and not the other would be the meaningful to test these claims.


Additionally, what are you reading that suggests this is a study "from the government"??????? The government of Italy? From my extremely limited Italian, I don't see it saying that the National Research Council is a government organization- though it does receive a little over 50% public funding. It looks like they mostly cooperate with universities to produce research with direct applications that can help the people of the country.
 
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I don't understand the wiki link... Yeah, your abstract was found at PubMed but that doesn't make it a government study. LOL

This was published in an Italian Journal, one owned by Elsevier. They're not exactly non-profit or government affiliated. It may have been financed by the Italian government but my italian isn't good enough to wade through the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche website (the people who DID pay for the study).


I would seriously suggest reading other papers. You're only reading the ONE you want to.

First, consider the dose one would receive of the compound in question. Of the six primary kavalactones, yangonin is the least present in the plant. If I read this study correct, it accounts for just 15% of all kavalactone content.

http://books.google.com/books?id=Tk...page&q=yangonin concentration in Kava&f=false


It appears to be poorly absorbed into the brain, as well (compared to the other kavalactones).



One study that finds low affinity is hardly reason to suggest that a drug that is not known for producing cannabimimetic effects all of a sudden has them.

Find any combination of studies that shows that yangonin levels are likely to reach relevant concentrations and maybe this will have more meaning. As it is, it's not particularly interesting I'm afraid.
 
I was saying its sanctioned by government. Find me the part of my post which said the government conducted the study. And lol.

Fine.

Which other papers do you suggest, pray tell?

Expert that you undoubtedly think you are, what dose then would produce noticeable effects (meaning you'd have to know whether its a full or partial agonist, right)? Do you know? I just am curious. Can you translate this to grams/ounces of usual Kava?

Poorly absorbed? What does that mean?

Alas, there just aren't the studies out there yet. I doubt many others exist on Yangonin and CB1, but I'll look.

Edit: and does it matter that in the paper you cited it states that when an extract of kava was administered versus individual kavalactones the bioavailability of (specifically) yangonin was increased by more than 20 times?

Not to be a douche but you acted like you disproved that it could have cannabamimetic (if you will) effects, then left open the possibility that this might not be so with that last line.
 
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Did you read it?

A. The level in the brain is a fraction of what is present for the other kavalactones with or without others being administered. That was the point of the study cited. Compared to the rest of the bunch, it's present at very low levels, whether it's administered singularly or in combination.
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B. The amount of yangonin present in Kava is the lowest of the six main kavalactones. It's less than 15% of total kavalactone content. Considering that kavalactones only make up a small percentage of total weight of product, with a ~50% BA, you can cut that in half (since many of the studies I'm reading are administering it by non-oral routes that's the only way to make a fair comparison).

C. Pravadoline, according to research, not the few trip reports out there, seems to have effective doses in the low to mid 10's of mg/kg. It's got weaker affinity but full efficacy, so that's probably a fair comparison.

D. Alternatively, for all you know this could be an antagonist.


You never said it was sanctioned by the government, you said it was a:
scientific study from the government

But that wasn't really the case. And "the government?" An organization with a vague relationship to the Italian government would be far more meaningful phrasing. Additionally, there's all sorts of shitty research out there that's been government funded. That's fairly meaningless.


and does it matter that in the paper you cited it states that when an extract of kava was administered versus individual kavalactones the bioavailability of (specifically) yangonin was increased by more than 20 times?

Did you read the levels it rose to? That's what matters, I don't care if it's boosted a billion times if the level it reaches is still low.



I've never said it's not possible. I've said it's extremely unlikely. You seem to have your heart set on Kava being cannabimimetic (that is a word, with that spelling anyway). I'm playing the rational side here. One paper that finds very weak affinity (again, we're talking something like 700x weaker than JWH-018) for a compound that's apparently not well absorbed into the brain, is present at low levels within the plant and a plant that's not known for producing cannabimimetic effects.

What is there to make one conclude that Kava's activity is mediated through the endocannabinoid system? Very, very little.

If you want to believe it, go ahead. Maybe it's a super agonist whose weak affinity is outweighed by it's incredible efficacy. Then again, maybe it's an antagonist.

There's only one real way to tell, and I don't see anyone administering Kava and Kava w/ Rimonabant anytime soon.

Not to be a douche but you acted like you disproved that it could have cannabamimetic (if you will) effects, then left open the possibility that this might not be so with that last line.

Don't worry, you can't be a douche unless you're making a valid point. So, you haven't crossed that line.
 
D. Or it could be a full agonist

yup

consider the statements synonymous; sanctioned by, from (caught up in semantics, you are)

the ncbi is a governmental organization (i'm assuming you live in the United States)

ehh not more than you have on it being non-cannabimimetic

and actually you'll find many more people comparing its effects to marijuana, as well as noting a synergy, so I do doubt its an antagonist but maybe

good to know that your precious ego exceeds any insult

thanks for putting in the time to help people with less knowledge
 
The bulk of the evidence suggests that this cannabimimetic compound is too weak to have noticeable effects in Kava.

Show me any evidence that suggests it's absorbed well enough, present in high enough levels or has a high enough efficacy to get around the fact that it has a VERY weak affinity. To reiterate, this is 700 TIMES WEAKER THAN JWH-018- a full agonist.

Let's pretend it's a full agonist. Doesn't exactly fit the known pharmacophore, but oh well. Pravadoline, a full agonist with a similarly weak affinity requires 20-50mg/kg for cannabimimetic effect. How much Kava do you have to eat before you reach a yangonin dose that reaches those levels? A LOT!!!

ehh not more than you have on it being non-cannabimimetic

Alright, now this is just getting fucking retarded. You can't keep saying something and have it become true.

You're going to say that all of the evidence saying:

A. Yangonin is present at levels too low to reach an active concentration

B. Is not well enough absorbed into the brain to reach an active concentration

C. Has too weak of an affinity to be meaningful at the concentrations it is present in

D. It's the kavalactone least present, the others, present at much higher concentrations with far better defined affinities for other receptors, are far better explanations for the scientifically described effects. Is Kava positive for tetrad effects? Didn't think so.

Is equal to one study with weak effects? What?




I'm the only one presenting any reasoning here. You keep pointing to one study that finds exceptionally weak effects as if that is meaningful. Perhaps if it was the primary kavalactone or present at much higher levels, sure. That might make sense. If a common Kava dose would yield doses in the hundreds of milligrams of yangonin, sure. That'd make sense.

Present one logical argument that concludes with Kava producing cannabimimetic effects.

and actually you'll find many more people comparing its effects to marijuana, as well as noting a synergy, so I do doubt its an antagonist but maybe

That's not it. Remember the old adage, "the plural of anecdote is not evidence"? Oh yeah...

Again, you have ZERO EVIDENCE that it's a full agonist. You have a hope that is, because that would (almost) support the answer you want. I don't give a fuck what the answer turns out to be, but there's A LOT of reason to suggest that ITS NOT the answer you seem so SET ON.

Could be an antagonist, agonist or partial agonist. Based on what you've got, you might as well flip a coin. But again, based on the affinity found and common doses of the compound, that weak affinity is probably completely irrelevant.

I mean, are you smoking echinacea because it contains compounds with weak affinity for CB1? I'm guessing not.

To see this level of retadery in this forum is astounding. It really is.

consider the statements synonymous; sanctioned by, from (caught up in semantics, you are)

the ncbi is a governmental organization (i'm assuming you live in the United States I do, but what relevance do that have? It was published in Italy...)

Now you're sounding like a Republican, hoping to repeat a lie so many times that your opponent just drops it because it's become so retarded. The problem is that when they do, others start to believe it.

This is the claim you were making earlier, and which I addressed earlier. I was hoping I misunderstood you, but quite obviously I did not.

You're claiming that somehow this is a study that came from or was sanctioned by (these are not synonyms) the US Government, right?

And you're talking about the NCBI because you found the abstract on PubMed, correct?

I honestly can't address this claim without insulting you. I'm actually laughing out loud right now. It is literally impossible not to, because there's no way I can point out that PubMed just collects abstracts and makes them available as a public service, and does so with all chemistry/medical/biology related abstracts and not have you look like a fool.

It has absolutely nothing to do with the production or sanctioning of those studies. It passes absolutely no judgment on the quality of the article. It's just making those abstracts available as a public service. Didn't you wonder about those studies from the 20's that are in there, long before the government got in the business of "sanctioning" any research? LOL. Based on the shear volume of articles in the PubMed database the US government would have to completely control all published research in the world. There are >22 million citations! This claim might have some merit were this published in PLoS ONE. It wasn't.

Publishers submit citations themselves.

Are there actually people out there with such limited intellectual levels that they think articles they found on PubMed are articles that the government is paying for or somehow sanctioning? LOL This is hilarious. No wonder we're in so much debt!

Look at the citation it gives. It's from an Italian journal genius. The only government that may have contributed ANY money to or "sanctioned" (in whatever convoluted sense you're going to claim you were using that word in) this study was the Italian government, but as far as I can tell, that's not even the case.
 
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What a vitriol spout!

Hamm has the right logic AFAICT - I seriously doubt yangonin produced CB1-agonistic effects at normal doses. His point that pravadoline, with comparable affinity, needs large doses per kilo to attain efficacy is kind of a lynchpin. Just because a drug produces effects that are comparable to marijuana, does not mean that it is a CB1-agonist. And as stated before, the plural of anecdote is not data.

I know people who have claimed that, for instance, sceletium produces a "cannabis-like" effect, even though there's no CB1 agonist present. Percieved effects are not good enough to go on.

I mean, are you smoking echinacea because it contains compounds with weak affinity for CB1? I'm guessing not.

This.

Really the way one could settle this debate, is find a study that combines Kava/lactones with a CB1 antagonist. If kava is a CB1-agonist, it will have noticeably diminished effects. If it does not, there's little chance that there is CB1/2 involvement.

Another possibility I haven't seen anyone touch on is that these compounds could be modulating the endocannabinnoid systems. That way you could have a cannabis-like effect without CB1 agonism.

Either way you two should cool down the bickering because arguing over journal articles won't change what the truth is.
 
Another possibility I haven't seen anyone touch on is that these compounds could be modulating the endocannabinnoid systems. That way you could have a cannabis-like effect without CB1 agonism.

The study cited in the OP actually addressed this, and found no activity at FAAH or MAGL. Possible it might in whole extract, but if the primary actives don't, that really limits this possibility.


Really the way one could settle this debate, is find a study that combines Kava/lactones with a CB1 antagonist. If kava is a CB1-agonist, it will have noticeably diminished effects. If it does not, there's little chance that there is CB1/2 involvement.

Right, like I had said (and had ignored repeatedly! ;)) would be to have two small test groups, one Kava and one Kava+Rimonabant. Would be surprisingly easy to do given the easy online access to both drugs. You'd just need to find a dozen people. That's not the smallest population size I've seen in a study of that sort.

Additionally, the absence of tetrad effects are awfully indicative of whether or not it produce cannabimimetic effects.


I know people who have claimed that, for instance, sceletium produces a "cannabis-like" effect, even though there's no CB1 agonist present. Percieved effects are not good enough to go on.

Oh god, if we scroll through Erowid and make a list of all the compounds that produce "cannabis-like" effects in their experience reports we'd have a list of all the compounds they have experience reports for.

Damaina, nitrous, sceletium, kratom, DXM, opium, amanita. The plants that are borderline placebo active seem to be the ones most likely to be compared to cannabis. People can find cannabis like effects in anything or nothing if they're looking hard enough, it seems.

Either way you two should cool down the bickering because arguing over journal articles won't change what the truth is.

If a reasoned, informed and passionate argument is not made on behalf of the truth, society becomes overrun with lies and misinformation and is the worse for it. It's better to have people arguing over the truth than to sit by and hope it will work itself out, because as America's level of understanding about sex has proven, that doesn't work very well.
 
The plants that are borderline placebo active seem to be the ones most likely to be compared to cannabis. People can find cannabis like effects in anything or nothing if they're looking hard enough, it seems.

Oh shit - of course that's the best example. Catnip, blue lotus, damiana, et cetera are often reported to be "cannabis like" but my money's on them being placeblin-mediated highs.
 
If a reasoned, informed and passionate argument is not made on behalf of the truth, society becomes overrun with lies and misinformation and is the worse for it. It's better to have people arguing over the truth than to sit by and hope it will work itself out, because as America's level of understanding about sex has proven, that doesn't work very well.

He was pointing out the obvious fact that our arguments were being reiterated meaninglessly.
 
Looks like they set out to see if any kavalactones had CB receptor affinity, got negative data, and published it in a low tier journal. I wouldn't take it too seriously. Probably just housekeeping work for an undergrad or recently joining master's student.
 
That is a very interesting abstract (study). I didn't realize there was different kinds of kavalactones in Kava Kava.. But it says they synthezied 9 kavalactone analogs. Doesn't that mean those "analogs" don't exist in nature (the kava plant/root)?? Other then that am I gettin this right? yangonin is the natural kavalactone that has a weak affinity for the cannabinoid receptor?
 
Read what I wrote already, it's meaningless.


Damn, I'm extremely persuasive and well spoken when I'm angry, btw. I'm like a white Obama. My parents are always telling me how well spoken he is. Lol
 
The plants that are borderline placebo active seem to be the ones most likely to be compared to cannabis. People can find cannabis like effects in anything or nothing if they're looking hard enough, it seems.

Yep, this is not said enough. In also notice its those guys who's only drug they know is cannabis, and often discount the fact that cannabinoid ligands are few and far between in nature. After doing a lot of "hard drugs" (opiates, psychedelics, amphetamine) when I finally got around to trying cannabis it was utterly dissapointing. A lot of the effects (mild sedation, slightly increased appetite) felt like they were placebo. Maybe I just have different CB receptors, but I imagine people do this because if cannabis is a lot of placebo, and the random herb they are smoking is also a lot of placebo, they are similar effects.
 
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I wouldn't call cannabis placebo like at all, the most psychedelic experience of my life was caused by oral cannabis. It can be way stronger than mushrooms ime, but it's highly variable.
 
I wouldn't call cannabis placebo like at all, the most psychedelic experience of my life was caused by oral cannabis. It can be way stronger than mushrooms ime, but it's highly variable.
I'm not calling cannabis neccesarily always placebo, it can certainly be very strong, but people wouldn't associate placebos with cannabis if it wasn't on most occasions, placebo-like. Then again cannabis as you have said has very variable effects.
 
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