Molecules: You'd better learn to live with them.
Absinthe, the storied liquor that Hemingway and other artists drank, was once thought to induce neurological effects far beyond that which could be explained by its alcohol content (which is almost always high - three-digit proof).
Thujone was often invoked to explain the effects of absinthe, but it turns out it was probably a red herring. Absinthe does contain substantial amounts of booze, and will reliably get one drunk, but it isn't the magic juice people claim. While thujone is quite toxic, there isn't that much thujone even in "real" European absinthe - and the US stuff contains next to none.
Medicine & Health
Brain & Behavior
Comments
From what I've heard, Absinthe contained larger amounts of Thujone in earlier times. That would get you in trouble with the law now, so vendors got rid of it.
I think Thujone is often invoked as explanation why van Gogh cut off his own ear.
Posted by: Christian Aichinger | September 19, 2008 2:32 AM
Isn't thujone even more mild of a hallucinogen than THC? I can't immagine anything less than PCP making someone cut their own ear off.
Posted by: Aariq | September 19, 2008 11:03 AM
I think Tyler once told me it makes your brain bleed. Is this a thing?
Posted by: Kate | September 19, 2008 11:19 AM
A New Yorker article from a couple years ago (summarized here: http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/03/13/060313fa_fact_turner) corroborates the notion that even the original absinthe of a century ago had almost no thujone in it.
Posted by: Computer Simulated Uncle Al Technician | September 19, 2008 2:15 PM
Actually, recent scientific research has discovered the amount of thujone in pre-ban absinthe was the same as what is in true absinthe today. Drink up, you are drinking the same type of drink as Oscar Wilde. The mystery surrounding van Gogh cutting off his ear, was more due to him being depressed than simply drinking absinthe. The plot thickens.
Posted by: Thor Briggs | September 19, 2008 3:19 PM
Here are some of my notes about Thujone. Some explanatory material appears after **
[ Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. vol. 97 pp. 3826 - 3831 '00 ] Absinthe was a popular drink in late 19th century France -- used by van Gogh, Toulouse-Lautrec and Baudelaire. It is said to occaionally induce fits and hallucinations. It was banned in many countries as a result (around 1910).
Use is ritualistic, involving a special glass and perforated spoon and adding cold water by pouring it over sugar cubes, at which time the liquor turns white because of precipitation of alcohol soluble herbal ingredients. It became the national drink of France in the late 1800's with people awaitting l'heure vierte, 5 - 7 pm when they all headed for the cafes s for their glass of absinthe, drinking 36 - 332 million liters/year around 1910. The major supplier was the Swiss factory Pernod. Pernod an anise flavored green colored analog of absinthe but lacking wormwood oil is still available. Absinthe can still be purched in Czechoslovakia.
Artemisia absinthium is the source -- it grows in Europe. Other members of the family is the sagebrush (mormon tea?).
The toxic properties of absinthe are attributable to wormwood oil used in making it. However, wormwod oil is a herbal medicine (hence natural? hence good?).
Alpha-thujone is generally considered to be the principal active ingredient of wormwood oil and the toxic principle in absinthe. The reason for the name is that extracts of wormwood were used to control gastrointestinal worms as far back as Egypt. It's important to remember that there might be other toxins in wormwood, and also that some of the metabolites of alpha-thujone might be toxic as well.
This paper shows that it is a 'modulator' of the GABA[A] receptor -- antagonizing it probably accounting for its convulsant effects. Its effects are quite similar to picrotoxin.
**
GABA stands for gamma amino butyric acid (4 amino butyric acid), the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain. Some calming drugs (benzodiazepines like Valium, Librium) and some anticonvulsants (phenobarbital) bind to the receptor for GABA making it more active and shutting down the neuron containing it. Antagonists (such as picrotoxin) would be expected to have the opposite effect causing increased neuronal excitability and (possibly) convulsions as well.
Retread
Posted by: Retread | September 19, 2008 5:47 PM
I remember this molecule (and others like it) drawn in older CRC encyclopedias as a cyclohexane ring with a bond between the 2 and 4 positions!
Posted by: joeylawn | September 19, 2008 11:21 PM
Aw, shucks. And I was hoping to get all goofy off the needles from my western red cedar (Thuja plicata) tree.
Posted by: Dr. Nick | September 21, 2008 10:12 PM
Gogh cutting off his ear, was more due to him being depressed than simply drinking absinthe.
Posted by: lahana yağı | September 26, 2008 3:04 PM