A new plant, a moss discovered in the 90s in Japan, has been studied by Swiss researchers: it could prove to be as effective as therapeutic cannabis in treating various pains, but without the high effects of THC.
It was in a new plant, a moss, that researchers from the University of Bern discovered a substance similar to cannabis. It is derived from “Radula”, a rare moss native to Japan, which also exists in New Zealand and Costa Rica. It was discovered in 1994 by the Japanese phytochemist Yoshinori Asakawa.
After carrying out pharmaceutical research on this foam, researchers found that its active ingredient, a natural substance called cis-perrottetinene (TEP), exerts a pain-relieving and anti-inflammatory effect similar but superior to tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the main active substance of cannabis. The study is published in the journal Science Advances.
Fewer psychoactive side effects
This discovery is still in its infancy, but researchers say that this foam could become a more effective medical alternative to cannabis for therapeutic use. If THC has in some studies demonstrated abilities of inhibition of certain parts of the brain to relieve chronic pain, its planing side effects constitute a brake on its therapeutic use.
It is not the same for cis-perrottetinene (TEP) it seems. “This natural substance has a weaker psychoactive effect and, at the same time, is able to inhibit inflammatory processes in the brain,” added Andrea Chicca, from the Institute of Biochemistry and Molecular Medicine at the University of Bern. .
More research needed to confirm effectiveness of cannabinoids
The researchers hope that their work will pave the way for the therapeutic use of cis-perrottetinene (TEP), in the same way as cannabis for medical use is used to treat various chronic diseases. The authors of the study point out, however, that this plant is very poorly known and they emphasize the absolute need to carry out further research before Radula is, on the one hand, consumed and, on the other hand, officially presented as an alternative to medical cannabis.
“It is amazing that only two species of plants, separated by 300 million years of evolution, produce similar psychoactive cannabinoids,” said lead author Jürg Gertsch in a statement. “Strong basic research in the area of biochemical and pharmacological mechanisms as well as controlled clinical studies are necessary to carry out cannabinoid research.”
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