Marihuana metabolites

Board, R. D., and Green, D. E. Marihuana Metabolites in Urine of Man. II. Unchanged Delta-9-Tetrahydrocan-nabinol... 

An annotated bibliography (3045 references 1964—1974) of marihuana has been published " and the pharmacology of marihuana, " the analysis and biochemical aspects " of Cannabis, and the chemistry of cannabinoids have been reviewed. The analysis of THC and metabolites in physiological fluids has been discussed. ... 

Recent evidence supports the hypothesis that cannabinoids also produce some of their effects by interacting with specific protein sites in synaptosomal preparations and mammalian brains. (W. A. Devane et ah, Determination and Characterization of a Cannabinoid Receptor in Rat Brain , Mol Pharmacol., 34 605-613 (1988), M. Herkenham et al., Cannabinoid Receptor Localization in Brain , Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 87 1932-1936 (1990)). For example, a cannabinoid receptor was shown to be more responsive to the psychoactive cannabinoids than the non psychoactive derivatives. (A. C. Hewlett, Cannabinoid Inhibition of Adenylate Cyclase Relative Activity of Constituents and Metabolites of Marihuana , Aenrop/iarmaco/oigy, 26 507-512 (1987)). 

Studies in animals have shown that the cannabinoids and/or their metabolites may accumulate in the brain following frequent exposure. The greater the accumulation, the longer it would take for the brain to rid itself of the drag and this could account for reports of flashbacks and memory impairment in longtime users of marihuana. 

Howlett AC (1987) Cannabinoid inhibition of adenylate cyclase relative activity of constituents and metabolites of marihuana. Neuropharmacology 26 507-512... 

Fifty-two illicit marihuana samples were tested for the presence of aflatoxins. Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) results indicated that four of the 52 samples that were examined showed spots with values similar to AFB. These spots were equivalent to approximately 1.0-1.5 ng AFB /g (ppb). Confirmatory chemical tests of the samples suspected to contain AFB were inconclusive. Also, negative results were obtained in confirmatory TLC procedures in which AFB was used as the internal standard superimposed on the marihuana extracts suspected of containing AFB. Therefore, samples are reported as containing AFB -like metabolites. 

Several studies have reported the detection of aflatoxin and aflatoxin-like compounds in tobacco (Patte, 1969 Smith and Louria, 1971 Yang, 1969). Our experimental results confirm the earlier findings of Llewellyn and 0 Rear (1978) that marihuana street samples are generally devoid of any of these carcinogenic ftingal metabolites. If present, they... 

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