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. PLoS One. 2023 Nov 16;18(11):e0294673. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0294673. eCollection 2023. Dormancy release of seeds of Podophyllum hexandrum Royle accompanied by changes in phytochemicals and inorganic elements. Jiu X(1), Chen H(1)(2), Du T(1)(2), Jia X(1), Liu D(1), Meng J(1), Xu X(1). Author information: (1)College of Pharmacy, Gansu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Lanzhou, China. (2)Northwest Chinese and Tibetan Medicine Collaborative Innovation Center, Lanzhou, China. Podophyllum hexandrum Royle is an alpine medicinal plant of considerable importance, and its seed dormancy severely inhibits population renewal. Although cold stratification can break dormancy to a certain extent, the migration and accumulation of phytochemicals and inorganic elements in the seeds during dormancy release and their functions remain unclear. Changes in phytochemicals and inorganic elements in different seed parts were analyzed during dormancy. The key differential phytochemicals and inorganic elements were screened and their association with dormancy release and their roles in dormancy release were explored. The results showed that dormancy release may have occurred following the decrease in palmitic acid and linoleic acid content in the seeds and the increase in 2,3-dihydro-3,5-dihydro-6-methyl-4 (h)-pyran-4-one content in the endosperm. Meanwhile, 6-propyltridecane and hexadecane in the seed coat may enhance the water permeability of seeds to speed up germination. Mg may migrate from the seed coat to the endosperm and seed embryos, whereas Co may migrate from the seed embryo to the seed coat. Ca, Mn, Mg, and Co are involved in various physiological metabolic processes, which may facilitate the dormancy release of P. hexandrum seeds. These findings have enhanced our understanding of the mechanisms of dormancy release in P. hexandrum seeds and can serve as a reference for the development of more effective dormancy-breaking techniques for the conservation of this endangered medicinal plant. Copyright: © 2023 Jiu et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0294673 PMCID: PMC10653421 PMID: 37972141 [Indexed for MEDLINE] Conflict of interest statement: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.