Oxford Study Shows Caryophyllene (terpene) as a Dietary Cannabinoid

Oxford Study Shows Caryophyllene (terpene) as a Dietary Cannabinoid
What does this mean? Cannabis ususally contains a significant amount of a terpene called beta-caryophyllene (BCP), which contributes to the aroma and flavor of cannabis. The study shows that this terpene, also found in other legal herbs, spices and food plants, activates the CB2 receptor and acts as a non-psychoactive anti-inflammatory. Because it binds to a cannabinoid receptor, it is considered a cannabinoid. WOW!
Question: Does non-psychoactive BCP compete with psychoactive compounds for receptor binding?; Can high BCP content reduce the psychoactive effects of cannabis?
Introduction to Cannabis Aroma and Flavor

The aroma and flavor of cannabis is manipulated by selective breeding for the biosynthesis of various classes of compounds. These include terpenes, flavonoids, alkanes and esters. Aroma and flavor molecules are generally volatile and posses lower boiling points than cannabinoids, thus they are released during vaporization processes.
Let’s take a look at a class of molecules known as a terpenes, which contribute to give cannabis its unique bouquet and flavor. Some terpenes are said to modulate the physiological and psychoactive effects of cannabis. Additional research is needed into how these legal compounds participate in providing medicinal properties to marijuana. Unfortunately, unjust Schedule I classification makes it illegal to extract perfectly legal compounds from cannabis.

Cannabis-Science recognizes that many terpenes in the botanical world exhibit medicinal properties and that a great number of modern pharmaceuticals were derived from this fact. Many cannabinoids are considered terpenes since they contain ‘terpene-pieces’ (moieties) assembled by the plant. Often, terpenes in the plant kingdom serve as evolutionary defense mechanisms to ward off predators and pathogenic microbes such as fungi and bacteria.
TERPENES

Terpenes (isoprenoids) are small molecules that consist of repeating units of a compound called isoprene. Terpenes play many important roles in the plant kingdom from deterring insect predation, protection from environmental stresses and as chemical raw materials for more complex molecules, like cannabinoids. Many plant terpenes act synergistically with other terpenes and some serve to either catalyze or inhibit formation of other compounds within a plant. Understanding the role of certain terpenes will allow scientists to manipulate cannabinoids to desired ratios, for example.
Isoprene is classified as an alkene. Alkenes are molecules with double bonds. Isoprene has 2.

Terpenes are made by many types of plants and are often the components of “essential oils”. They are often times the building blocks to make more complex plant molecules, such as in certain hormones, vitamins (Vitamin A), pigments, sterols and cannabinoids. Others terpenes have antimicrobial properties, including some found in cannabis. Many of terpenes act as natural defense mechanisms against insects as resins are often sticky (i.e. amber, sap), while other terpenes such as limonene induce ‘relaxation’ and have their own unique pharmacology. Because of this diversity in the many functions of terpenes, whole cannabis (a.k.a. poly-pharmaceutical cannabis) has a higher therapeutic index than single-component THC (Marinol). This means, and medical marjuana patients affirm, that raw cannabis is superior in treating various ailments versus THC alone.
There are over 120 kinds of terpenes in cannabis, some only in trace amounts with others in double-digit percentage. Being able to measure these volatile compounds before and after a breeding experiment will offer the cannabis scientist endless opportunities for developing new flavors by basing breeding decisions on real analytical data.
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