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Incense Is Psychoactive: Scientists Identify The Biology Behind The

Ceremony

22 May 2008

 

Religious leaders have contended for millennia that burning incense

is good for the soul. Now, biologists have learned that it is good

for our brains too. In a new study appearing online in The FASEB

Journal (http://www.fasebj. <http://www.fasebj.org/> org/), an

international

team of

scientists, including researchers from Johns Hopkins University and

the Hebrew University in Jerusalem, describe how burning frankincense

(resin from the Boswellia plant) activates poorly understood ion

channels in the brain to alleviate anxiety or depression. This

suggests that an entirely new class of depression and anxiety drugs

might be right under our noses.

 

" In spite of information stemming from ancient texts, constituents of

Bosweilla had not been investigated for psychoactivity, " said Raphael

Mechoulam, one of the research study's co-authors. " We found that

incensole acetate, a Boswellia resin constituent, when tested in mice

lowers anxiety and causes antidepressive-like behavior. Apparently,

most present day worshipers assume that incense burning has only a

symbolic meaning. "

 

To determine incense's psychoactive effects, the researchers

administered incensole acetate to mice. They found that the compound

significantly affected areas in brain areas known to be involved in

emotions as well as in nerve circuits that are affected by current

anxiety and depression drugs. Specifically, incensole acetate

activated a protein called TRPV3, which is present in mammalian

brains and also known to play a role in the perception of warmth of

the skin. When mice bred without this protein were exposed to

incensole acetate, the compound had no effect on their brains.

 

" Perhaps Marx wasn't too wrong when he called religion the opium of

the people: morphine comes from poppies, cannabinoids from marijuana,

and LSD from mushrooms; each of these has been used in one or another

religious ceremony. " said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of

The FASEB Journal. " Studies of how those psychoactive drugs work have

helped us understand modern neurobiology. The discovery of how

incensole acetate, purified from frankincense, works on specific

targets in the brain should also help us understand diseases of the

nervous system. This study also provides a biological explanation for

millennia-old spiritual practices that have persisted across time,

distance, culture, language, and religion-burning incense really does

make you feel warm and tingly all over! "

 

According to the National Institutes of Health, major depressive

disorder is the leading cause of disability in the United States for

people ages 15-44, affecting approximately 14.8 million American

adults. A less severe form of depression, dysthymic disorder, affects

approximately 3.3 million American adults. Anxiety disorders affect

40 million American adults, and frequently co-occur with depressive

disorders.

 

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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.

----------------------------

 

The FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj. <http://www.fasebj.org/> org/)

is

published by the

Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) and

is consistently ranked among the top three biology journals worldwide

by the Institute for Scientific Information. FASEB comprises 21

nonprofit societies with more than 80,000 members, making it the

largest coalition of biomedical research associations in the United

States. FASEB advances biological science through collaborative

advocacy for research policies that promote scientific progress and

education and lead to improvements in human health.

 

Article details: Incensole acetate, an incense component, elicits

psychoactivity by activating TRPV3 channels in the brain. Arieh

Moussaieff, Neta Rimmerman, Tatiana Bregman, Alex Straiker, Christian

C. Felder, Shai Shoham, Yoel Kashman, Susan M. Huang, Hyosang Lee,

Esther Shohami, Ken Mackie, Michael J. Caterina, J. Michael Walker,

Ester Fride, and Raphael Mechoulam. Published online before print May

20, 2008 as doi: 10.1096/fj.07-101865.

http://www.fasebj.

<http://www.fasebj.org/cgi/content/abstract/fj.07-101865v1>

org/cgi/content/abstract/fj.07-101865v1

 

Source: Cody Mooneyhan

Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology

______

Article URL: http://www.medicaln

<http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/108270.php>

ewstoday.com/articles/108270.php