Worldwide, there are plants known as psychoactive plants that naturally contain psychedelic active components. They have a high concentration of neuroprotective substances that can interact with the nervous system to produce psychedelic effects. Despite these plants' hazardous potential, recreational use of them is on the rise because of their psychoactive properties. Early neuroscience studies relied heavily on psychoactive plants and plant natural products (NPs), and both recreational and hazardous NPs have contributed significantly to the understanding of almost all neurotransmitter systems. Worldwide, there are many plants that contain psychoactive properties, and people have been using them for ages. Psychoactive plant compounds may significantly alter how people perceive the world.
1. Bioorg Chem. 2018 Dec;81:35-43. doi: 10.1016/j.bioorg.2018.07.030. Epub 2018 Aug 2. Six kanshone C-derived sesquiterpenoid hybrids nardochalaristolones A-D, nardoflavaristolone A and dinardokanshone F from Nardostachys jatamansi DC. Deng X(1), Wang Y(1), Wu HH(2), Zhang W(1), Dong X(1), Wang Z(1), Zhu Y(1), Gao XM(1), Li L(3), Wang YN(3), Xu YT(4). Author information: (1)Tianjin State Key Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicine, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Chemistry and Analysis of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 312 Anshan Xidao Road, Nankai District, Tianjin 300193, People's Republic of China. (2)Tianjin State Key Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicine, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Chemistry and Analysis of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 312 Anshan Xidao Road, Nankai District, Tianjin 300193, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: wuhonghua2011@tjutcm.edu.cn. (3)Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Science Peking Union Medical College, 1 Xian Nong Tan Street, Xicheng District, Beijing 100050, People's Republic of China. (4)Tianjin State Key Laboratory of Modern Chinese Medicine, Tianjin Key Laboratory of Chemistry and Analysis of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 312 Anshan Xidao Road, Nankai District, Tianjin 300193, People's Republic of China. Electronic address: tonyxu2015@sina.com. Four sesquiterpenoid-chalcone hybrids (nardochalaristolones A-D, 1-4), a pair of epimeric sesquiterpenoid-flavonone hybrids ((2'S)- and (2'R)-nardoflavaristolone A, 5 and 6), and a sesquiterpenoid dimer (dinardokanshone F, 7), all sharing a kanshone C-derived sesquiterpenoid unit, were isolated from the underground parts of Nardostachys jatamansi (D.Don) DC. Their structures were elucidated by analysis of the extensive spectroscopic data, and the absolute configurations were established by analysis of 2D NMR spectroscopic data including NOESY data, combined with comparisons of experimental and calculated electronic circular dichroism spectra. Further, the plausible biosynthetic pathways for these compounds were proposed. And the results of SERT activity assay revealed that nardochalaristolones C-D (3 and 4) and nardoflavaristolone A (5 and 6) significantly enhanced SERT activity, while other compounds didn't show any SERT regulatory activities. Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.1016/j.bioorg.2018.07.030 PMID: 30092385 [Indexed for MEDLINE]