Wicked Wheeze
Medical
A chemical component of mescaline can treat asthma, perhaps many more physical problems. And it’s not even the bit that makes you trip
Keith Coventry, ‘Inhaler’ in the permanent collection at the Southbank
Dr Charles Nichols’ major research breakthrough is the isolation of anti-inflammatory properties from the active agent in peyote.
Mescaline, in 1917 the first psychedelic ever synthesised, could treat conditions ranging from asthma to psoriasis and complex neurodegenerative disorders.
Dr Nichols’ lab has isolated anti-inflammatory properties within a designer drug variant of mescaline called DOI.
Mescaline enjoyed significantly better results than steroidal treatments when tested on Charles’ premium lab rats. And mice.
It’s almost certainly down to 5-HT2a receptors in the soft muscle around the heart becoming activated by psychedelics too.
Charles’ experiments showed mescaline/DOI prompted ‘extremely potent inhibition of tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α-mediated inflammation.’
I hope you’re sitting down to take in what happens after that, ‘cos it might be a bit much to get your head around straight away:
‘5-HT2A receptor stimulation with the agonist (R)-1-(2,5-dimethoxy-4-iodophenyl)-2-aminopropane [(R)-DOI] rapidly inhibits a variety of TNF-α-mediated proinflammatory markers,’ says the report barely managing to contain its enthusiasm. That’s not all.
‘Including intracellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1), vascular adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1), and interleukin (IL)-6 gene expression, nitric-oxide synthase activity, and nuclear translocation of nuclear factor κB, with IC50 values of only 10 to 20 pM.’
Unbelievable.
Importantly, these anti-inflammatory aspects of mescaline/DOI are chemically separate to its psychedelic properties. Any medicines derived from them wouldn’t prompt a psychedelic experience.
This isn’t just good news for any asthma sufferers who don’t fancy turning themselves on each time they need a blast of their inhaler.
“We analysed 25 different psychedelics and revealed no correlation between behavioural potency and their ability to cure asthma”
It’s also a boon for folks who could do with help for their conditions as soon as possible.
“One reason for isolating non-psychoactive components is the Federal Drug Association,” says Charles, “Even a minute psychoactive component requires much more rigorous testing.” New medicines derived from psychedelics that don’t blow the patient’s mind, make it to market much faster.
“Pretty much every everything nowadays seems to involve some aspect of of inflammation,” comments Charles, “the neuro-immune network hypothesis has become a really hot field. It underlies a lot of psychiatric disorders,” he says, citing depression, schizophrenia plus Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.
This doesn’t mean that someone on the wrong end of Alzheimer’s should be obliged to trip balls. Or kids with asthma.
“Inflammatory cells exist in the lungs, that affect asthma, and all over the body,” says Charles, “the brain has a primitive immune system too. Biopsies have revealed inflammation in the brains of a subset of depressed patients: cytokines and microglia are increased. Unmedicated schizophrenics have a significant amount of neuro-inflammation, plus it’s associated with drug abuse.”
“LSD is actually a poor anti-inflammatory and DMT has none of the properties at all,” says Charles when I ask him about his asthma breakthrough.
It only came about when he was left without a researcher after Hurricane Katrina, and took a chance on visiting professor Bangning Yu who needed a lab and complimented his own research.
“We analysed 25 different psychedelics and revealed no correlation between behavioural potency and their ability to cure asthma,” says Charles, “We will be able to engineer drugs that have less psychedelic activity, potentially even no psychedelic activity, but full anti-inflammatory properties.”
He’s already honed a version of lab psychedelic DOI that has two-thirds less of the mind-expanding effects, but offers the same relief from asthmatic wheezing.