BL – TerpeneTargets

Valencene

Valencene is a natural product found in Xylopia sericea and Helichrysum odoratissimum, None of these plants listed by PubChem are very familiar to North Americans. Valencene is apparently found in valencia oranges. [1] María Eugenia Letelier and other scientists from the School of Chemical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Universidad de Chile, Santiago developed a protocol forContinue reading “Valencene”

Lavender and the Levo 2

I purchased a Levo 2 from Levo Oils to see what I could extract from lavender flowers with the end goal of making a lavender infused coffee creamer. These are the specifications of the product purchased at Natural grocers. Whole organic lavender flowers packed 21-166, SAP 755919, PLU2835 Packaged by Vitamin Cottage IH08:05. I usedContinue reading “Lavender and the Levo 2”

Eucalyptol

This post makes the case that eucalyptol, aka 1,8-cineole, is an activator of TRPM8 and an inhibitor of the L-type voltage gated calcium channel found in smooth muscle.

Silexan

Silexan targets two types of voltage gated calcium channels that human and rodent studies have shown to decrease anxiety. Lyrica also targets these channels. This post attempts to explain a very technical study to well motivated lay readers.

p-cymene

p-Cymene is anti-bacterial. Is it also inhibit mammalian mitochondria? Yes, it uncouples respiration of isolated micochondria.

α-phellandrene

The featured study came out of Brazil. Many of the plant species the authors cited as being good sources of (32%) as well as limonene (28%) and carvone (28%). [2] Hydro are natives of Brazil Dill is also a good source of α-phellandrene (32%) as well as limonene (28%) and carvone (28%). [2] Hydro distillationContinue reading “α-phellandrene”

Carvacrol and TRPM2

Introduction The TRPM2 structure comes from RCSB.org entry 6PUS. It features human TRPM2 bound to ADP-ribose, an NAD+ metabolite produced under oxidative stress and/or neuro degenerative conditions. The TRPV4 is from Xenopus. 6C8H The gadolinium inhibitor (arrow) is part of this structure. The TRPM2 mRNA and TRPV4 mRNA expression data are from Proteinatlas.org. The firstContinue reading “Carvacrol and TRPM2”

Nerol

This post explores the binding of nerol to the human olfactory receptor OR2w3 in airway smooth muscle and thyroid cancer cells.

Sabinene

Sabinene was shown to be an jactive ingredient in Chrysanthemum boreale Makino essential oil. This post proposes that rather than a simple scavenger of reactive oxygen species sabinene is acting on PPAR alpha.

Frenchol

Frenchol is a primary terpene of basil and closely related to borneol. This is a journey that took some strange twists. Two groups of scientists were looking for neurological disease treatments. The paradoxical thing is that neither of the frenchol/fenchone targets are expressed in the brain in large amounts. They are both expressed in theContinue reading “Frenchol”