From: patrik@cup.portal.com (Patrick M Crumhorn)
Newsgroups: alt.drugs,alt.psychoactives
Subject: Drug receptor research (news story)
Date: Sat, 19 Dec 92 15:10:13 PST
Organization: The Portal System (TM)

=START=   XMT: 08:28 Fri Dec 18  EXP: 08:00 Fri Dec 25 

SCIENTISTS UNLOCK MYSTERIES OF HOW DRUGS WORK IN THE HUMAN BRAIN 

WASHINGTON (DEC. 18) UPI - Scientists have identified long-sought brain
chemicals involved in making marijuana and other drugs work, which may lead to
better ways to break addictions, block pain and understand the brain. 

One group of researchers found a chemical produced naturally in the brain that
appears to stimulate the same cells that marijuana stimulates. A second group
cloned the protein that drugs like heroin and morphine trigger to produce their
effects. 

The findings, reported Thursday in two papers in the journal Science, should
enable scientists to learn more about how such drugs work in the brain and
could lead to ways to harness the beneficial effects of drugs. 

''Both of these findings are really important. They will lead to some very
interesting science in the next half decade,'' Michael Brownstein of the
National Institute of Mental Health told Science. 

Drugs work because they contain chemicals that travel to the brain and, like a
key, fit into structures likened to locks called ''receptors'' on certain brain
cells, triggering activity by those cells. 

Scientists have long searched for both the specific receptors for certain types
of drugs and the naturally occurring chemicals in the brain that fit those
receptors. 

William Devane and his colleagues at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
reported they had found a naturally occurring substance that triggers the same
receptors as does tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active ingredient in
marijuana. 

The THC receptor is one of the most common receptors in the brain, indicating
it may be involved in a wide range of brain functions, including memory,
appetite and motor function, Devane said. Defects in the receptor, therefore,
may be involved a variety of diseases, including possible the devastating
disorder schizophrenia, he said. 

''Perhaps we can discover what its natural function is and what diseases it may
be involved in,'' Devane said in an interview. ''This is just like opening a
door to a new room. It provides a lot of new avenues to explore. This will
stimulate a lot of research.'' 

Devane dubbed the newly identified substance ''anandamide,'' from a Sanskrit
word meaning ''bliss.'' Devane and his colleagues identified the substance in
the brains of pigs, but presumably an equivalent substance is produced
naturally in human brains, he said. 

The findings could enable researchers to develop drugs that have the beneficial
effects of marijuana, such as relieving pain, reducing blood pressure and
nausea and pressure in the eye from glaucoma, without producing the
psychotropic effects, he said. 

Meanwhile, Christopher Evans of the University of California, Los Angeles, and
his colleagues identified the structure of the ''opioid'' receptor, which is
activated by drugs like heroin and morphine. 

The discovery of a receptor for opiates could help researchers searching for
non-addictive painkillers and for helping alleviate withdrawal symptoms for
addicts. 



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