Uncategorized – TerpeneTargets

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”

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”

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”

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”

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”