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”
Author Archives: BL
Carvacrol oregano oil
This post examines a report that oregano oil is a good treatment for foot pain. Carvacrol is a major terpene in oregano oil. Does carvcrol control pain pathways?
Cedrene and cedrol
An olfactory receptor in fat cells? Olfactory Receptor Family 10 Subfamily J Member 5 (OR10J5) is a typically G protein coupled receptor that signals through Gas pathways. GeneCards.org has perhaps the best expression data for OR10J5, the human version of Mouse olfactory receptor 23 MOR23. Tissue expression in the feature image is Illumina mRNA sequencingContinue reading “Cedrene and cedrol”
Terpinene
This post examines some biological actions and possible targets of four of the major terpenes in tea tree oil.
Phytol
This post examines some biochemistry of phytol and why it might cause pulmonary injury when vaped.
Terpenes and cell membranes
Terpene and lipid interactions: Not uncharted territory Terpene interactions with phospholipids in cell membranes and how those phospholipids communicate with receptors in those membranes is a bit of an unknown. However…. We already know more than we may realize just from the history of terpene use as transdermal permeablity enhancers. Trans dermal delivery of drugsContinue reading “Terpenes and cell membranes”
CB1 and cholesterol
Can terpenes interact directly with CB1? Terpenes share some features with cholesterol, a modulator of CB1. This post examines the interaction of cholesterol with CB1.
The THC Tetrad
This post will bounce back and forth between a THC study with a CB1 knock out mouse [1] and a terpene study from Michael Streicher’s laboratory [2] The post will quickly examine some membrane biophysics studies that back up some of the perplexing terpene results and offer new clues of CB1 receptor dynamics.This post willContinue reading “The THC Tetrad”
Turning the GABAA receptor off
This post explores the inactivation of the GABAA receptor. It’s regulation by PKA phosphorylation may be impacted by THC and CB1 activation. Some concluding thoughts on terpenes and the entourage effect are included.
Pulegol and Curcumol
Curcumol is isolated from roots of plants of the family Zingiberaceaegenus {1] Within that family is the G genus Curcumus. North Americans are familiar with this as the common turmeric. Wei and coworkers have published an excellent review on the potential of curcumol to treat various aspects of the cancer process. [1] Isopulegol is theContinue reading “Pulegol and Curcumol”
TerpeneTargets 