Abstract
Salvia divinorum, a mint plant originally used by the Mazatecs of Oaxaca, Mexico in spiritual rituals has gained popularity, in smoked form, as a legal hallucinogen in the United States and Europe. Abuse results in rapid onset and short-lasting effects that include visual hallucinations and motor-function impairment. Salvinorin A, the psychoactive component of S. divinorum, is a uniquely potent agonist at κ-opioid receptors, targets for new therapeutic drugs. We labeled salvinorin A with C-11 by acylation of salvinorin B with [11C]-acetyl chloride to study whether its kinetic behavior in the brain parallels its uniquely fast, yet brief physiological effects. Positron emission tomography (PET) studies performed in 6 adult female baboons indicated extremely rapid brain uptake reaching a peak accounting for 3.3% of the total administered dose in 40 s and clearing with a half-life of 8 min. [11C]-salvinorin A was distributed throughout the brain with the highest concentration in the cerebellum and a notable concentration in the visual cortex, perhaps accounting for its physiological effects when smoked. Naloxone administration did not reduce the overall concentration of [11C]-salvinorin A significantly nor did it change its regional distribution. Peripheral organ kinetics suggested at least two modes of metabolism and excretion occur: through the renal and biliary systems. Our findings have revealed that the exceptionally rapid uptake and brief duration of salvinorin A in the brain match the time-course of visual hallucinations for S. divinorum when smoked. The effects of salvinorin A may occur at < 10 μg in the human brain, emphasizing its remarkable potency.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 1044-1050 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | NeuroImage |
Volume | 41 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jul 1 2008 |
Externally published | Yes |
Bibliographical note
Funding Information:This work was carried out at Brookhaven National Laboratory under contract DE-AC02-98CH10886 with the U.S. Department of Energy and supported by its Office of Biological and Environmental Research. J.M.H. was supported by an NIH Postdoctoral Fellowship (1F32EB008320-01) and through the Goldhaber Distinguished Fellowship program at BNL. The authors are grateful to David Alexoff, Dr. Michael Schueller, Dr. Stephen Dewey, and Dr. Jean Logan for their helpful discussions and advice. We are grateful to Daniel Siebert for providing a reference sample of salvinorin A.