A chemical compound found in liverworts may provide the pain and inflammation relief of pot’s THC but without the same kind of high.
Both the molecule, called perrottetinene, and tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC — the mind-altering substance found in marijuana — have similar molecular structures. Lab tests with human brain cells and in mice have revealed that, like THC, perrottetinene easily attaches to the brain’s cannabinoid receptors, or molecular docking stations, dampening the effects of pain signals, researchers report October 24 in Science Advances.
“Nobody really notices [liverworts] because they’re so small,” says Douglas Kinghorn, a phytochemist at Ohio State University in Columbus. “Sometimes you find important medicinal compounds in plants from unexpected sources.”
A group of Japanese scientists in 1994 discovered perrottetinene in liverworts, but the new study is the strongest evidence yet that the compound is a psychoactive cannabinoid. Previously, cannabis was the only plant known to produce such cannabinoids
https://www.sciencenews.org/article/liverwort-plants-contain-painkiller-similar-one-marijuana#:~:text=A%20chemical%20compound%20found%20in,marijuana%20—%20have%20similar%20molecular%20structures.
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