N. glauca and anabasine as anti-addictive agents - some theory

[Alchemica]

Anyone have experiences with this plant?

 

N. glauca, through anabasine, is actually potentially anti-addictive for multiple substances, see below for more. While I've used it in the past, I was using it *with* nicotine, chasing a buzz and the effects may (?) addictively synergise. What happens with just one? I'm heavily nicotine dependent. Stopping nicotine for a day is hellish. I use gum as a mood manager etc.

 

This is an area of research I can't suggest, albeit an interesting research direction. I recommend extreme caution with all nicotinic alkaloids.

 

I put a day on glauca to the test a bit. I did an experiment to see how long I can stay free from nicotine intake with N. glauca.

 

Got through quite a bit, a day and a bit, on a small dose of intranasal N. glauca with no nicotine gum. Just one dose of glauca vs a day of cycling up and down through many gums. It didn't totally negate the withdrawal, I started feeling flat, very hard for me to cut out nicotine. Out of all the things I've tried, this maybe the most effective I've found, at least it's long half-life and definitely feels less addictive. Normally stopping nicotine is absolute hell for me, this is still quite hard but better than the other things I've tried, from pharma to Lobelia to Cytisus (which is interesting but I don't find the plant material overly potent, there's potential exploring that more)

 

The toxicity of the anabasine is a bit of a concern, as to the variability of alkaloid levels in the plant which makes accurate dosing a challenge. I'm not sure how much cross tolerance there is between nicotine and anabasine but I decided I need to taper down the nicotine, not put myself through hardcore withdrawals and using anabasine. It's really promising as an anti-addictive agent, I just don't want to be the big research experiment at the moment.

 

The science

 

Quantitatively, anabasine forms 99% of the alkaloid content of N. glauca. While considered potentially more toxic than nicotine, Half-lives are 16 h for anabasine vs. nicotine ca. 120 minutes

 

The behavioral effects of anabasine are similar to those of nicotine, although anabasine, unlike nicotine, does not have addictive effects (Caine et al., 2014). Other studies have found minor tobacco alkaloids can either fully (nornicotine, anabasine) or partially (myosmine) mimic nicotine’s addiction-related effects albeit at reduced potency. Some of these nicotinic alkaloids, which are structurally similar to nicotine, may play a role in addiction to nicotine or other drugs

 

In vitro studies have shown that anabasine, acting as a putative α4β2 partial agonist, increases midbrain levels of dopamine which plays an important role in addiction. Anabasine has also been shown to fully substitute for nicotine and partially substitute for d-methamphetamine in drug discrimination paradigms. Anabasine shows anti-addiction properties in some studies, "anabasine at 2 mg/kg significantly reduced alcohol intake during the 0–2 h and decreased alcohol preference during 2–4 h and 6–24 h periods but increased water intake during the 2–4 h period."

 

Anabasine is a partial agonist at α4β2 nAChRs with lower affinity than nicotine, but it has a greater affinity than nicotine for the α7 subtype of nAChRs, at which it is a full agonist and hypothesised to exert most of its effects in vivo. Both α4β2 and α7 subtypes of nAChRs have been shown to play an important role in regulating alcohol and drug intake

 

"One can speculate that anabasine, as a nicotinic partial agonist, by desensitizing nicotinic receptors located at the dopaminergic terminals in the VTA stimulates dopamine release which consequently results in reduction of drug intake. In addition, anabasine's more prominent effects at α7 nicotinic receptors may also differentiate it from nicotine."

Edited March 17, 2018 by Alchemica