Trichocereus

The pharmacological action of bases from Cereus coryne Solm, Pachycereus marginatus, Trichocereus terscheki, Britton and Rose, and T. candicans B. and R., has also been recorded. T. terscheki is stated to contain trichocereine (A-dimethylmezcaline) and 3 4-dihydroxyphenyl-ethyltrimethylammonium hydroxide. The latter is probably also present in Cereus coryne. T. candicans is stated to contain hordenine (anhaline) and p-hydroxyphenylethyltrimethylammonium hydroxide (candicine). 

Mescaline and related alkaloids are found in varying amounts in cacti of the genera Lophophora, Gymnacalycium, Stensonia, Mammillaria, Ariocarpus, Opuntia, Trichocereus, Pelecyphora, and probably others. Members of the Native American Church do quite well with the dried cactus, but extraction of mescaline is desirable since the pure compound seems to produce fewer unpleasant side effects (e.g., nausea). For an excellent review on the occurrence and chemistry of the mescaline type compounds, see JPS 59,1699(1970) (cf. JPS 60,655(1971)). Various species of these cacti occur in southwestern U.S. as well as Central and South America and have been used by the Aztecs and others for millennia. For a good review of peyote see Lloydia 36,1-58(1973). 

Trichocereus pachanoi Cactus Mescaline 3,4-dimethoxyphenyl- ethylamine 3-methoxy-tyramine... 

Pardanani JH, McLaughlin JL, Kondrat RW, Cooks RG. (1977). Cactus alkaloids XXXVI. Mescaline and related compounds from Trichocereus peruvianus. Lloydia. 40(6) 585-90. 

A number of very important natural and synthetic biochemicals belong to the phenylethylamine family. Two of these compounds, dopamine and epinephrine (adrenaline), are neurotransmitters, substances that carry chemical messages through the nervous system of humans and other animals. A third phenylethylamine, tyrosine, is an essential amino acid. And a familiar phenylethylamine found in plants is mescaline, whose chemical name is 2-(3,4,5-trimethoxy-phenyl)ethylamine. The primary natural sources of mescaline are four varieties of cactus two peyote species (Lophophora wiUiamsii and Lophophora diffusa), the San Pedro cactus (Trichocereus pacha-noi), and the Peruvian Torch cactus (Trichocereus peruvianus). 

N,N-Dimethylmescaline has been given the trivial name of Trichocerine as it has been found as a natural product in several cacti of the Trichocereus Genus but, interestingly, never in any Peyote variant. It also has proven inactive in man in dosages in excess of 500 milligrams, administered parenterally. This observation, the absence of activity of a simple tertiary amine, has been exploited in the development of several iodinated radiopharmaceuticals that are mentioned else-... 

Mescaline (peyote) is one such drug that has a cultural history dating from before the time of Christ as well as a separate history as a street drug. It is derived mainly from two members of the Cactaceae family—the peyote cactus (Lophophora williamsii) and the San Pedro cactus (Trichocereus pachanoi). 

D-Glucaric acid was reported to occur as the magnesium salt in the sap of Ficus elastica,250 and 3-deoxy-mawzo-heptaric acid (cerheptaric acid) has been found to be widely distributed in the Cereus and Trichocereus genera of the Cactaceae family.251... 

SAN PEDRO -- Trichocereus pachanoi. Family Cactaceae (Cactus family). 

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