via renwick

[novapsyche]

Morphine Apparently in Your Head

Several persistent researchers finally have proof for a theory they have held for more than a decade, despite dissent from the larger scientific community: Morphine occurs naturally in the human brain.

Most scientists have been skeptical of the claim, saying previously studied samples were likely contaminated with morphine molecules. But a paper published in the Sept. 21 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences seems to put the question to rest.

Meinhart Zenk and his colleagues at Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg in Germany found that human cells grown in a dish synthesized morphine.

"Without doubt, human cells can produce the alkaloid morphine," Zenk wrote in the paper. "The studies presented here serve as a platform for the exploration of the function of 'endogenous morphine' in the neurosciences and immunosciences."

Comments

[akaiyume.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the article. It makes a lot of sense. One of the things I have observed while hanging around with (and for a while being) an opiate user is that those most users who say that opiate use makes them feel normal (self included) have a very marked preference for morphine or heroin (which metabolizes to morphine in the body in less than 3 minutes), over other opiates, including oxycodone (which does not metabolize to morphine) even though the high from OC is far superior to that from morphine and arguably better than that of heroin. Those who just love the opiate high tend to have no prefernce or to like OC better.