What is in your Pills? - Noscapine
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Do you ever take some meds and immediately wonder ”What the hell is this stuff even?!!”
As someone who doesn’t take a lot of pills, I think about this every time I take something new. Yes, I know that antibiotics kill bacteria, but how does this specific antibiotic work? My doctor usually doesn’t know it, so I tend to end up googling it myself.
Recently, my boyfriend brought something home that was prescribed to him to relieve his cough. But it wasn’t something to soothe the irritation, no, this drug was supposed to completely stop him from coughing for a while. Not something I encountered before that day, I must say. My mom only ever gave us chamomile tea, milk with honey, such stuff.
Intrigued, I looked it up online and the name of the drug lead me to the chemical Noscapine, also known as Narcotine, also known as (3S)-6,7-dimethoxy-3-[(5R)-4-methoxy-6-methyl-7,8-dihydro-5H-[1,3]dioxolo[4,5-g]isoquinolin-5-yl]-3H-2-benzofuran-1-one. I hate chemists and the whole IUPAC naming system (that’s the system that is responsible for those incredibly long names).
Just as opium, it’s derived from the poppy Papaver somniferum. The kicker is, it’s not addictive or sedative, contrary to codeine (which I knew by name but never knew the effects. Now I do.).
In fact, noscapine has been in use for a while, they discovered that it’s good against a cough in 1930! One of the sources I linked below is a study from 1957 that analyzes the drug’s antitussive (= relieves or prevents cough) effects. It comes at no surprise that noscapine has been an oral drug for a while and is believed to be generally safe, at least as safe as medication can be. @suesa
But how, how does it work?
Noscapine activates the so-called sigma opioid receptors, which are found in a high number in several parts of the brain, especially in neurons. So technically, this drug suppresses a cough in the brain. Isn’t that neat?
The receptors, although called “opioid receptors”, aren’t opioid receptors. Typical case of “we thought it works like this, gave it a name and now it turns out it’s not like this”. Still, there are several drugs that affect these receptors, including some antidepressants, cocaine, and methamphetamine.
And before you ask me, I couldn’t find anything about cocaine to treat a cough (although it has been used in medicine in the past), but it seems like they used to put heroin into cough syrup. Please don’t start taking heroin to treat your cough. It’s just not worth it.
In addition to helping you to not cough the whole night and keep everyone awake, noscapine might just help in our fight against cancer.
There are studies that suggest antineoplastic effects, which means the drug could inhibit, halt or even prevent the development of a tumor. It seems to be able to bind to tubulin, which inhibits mitosis and causes the tumor cells to die.
Tubulin? Mitosis? Those who are already familiar with those two words can skip the next 2 paragraphs.
When a cell wants to divide, it needs to first replicate its DNA to guarantee that both new cells have the same set of genes. After this replication happened, the two sets of DNA are separated into two nuclei. That process is called mitosis. After the mitosis, the cell usually splits into two new cells.
For the process of DNA separation to work, the cell needs several cellular mechanisms and tools. One of these tools are the microtubules, which are made from the protein tubulin. The microtubules generally help the cell to keep its structure and serve as some kind of “railroad” to transport vesicles which contain important substances. During mitosis, they form the mitotic spindle which is needed for the separation of the DNA. When noscapine binds to tubulin, it disrupts the formation of microtubules and thus inhibits mitosis.
In one study, noscapine increased the death of tumor cells during chemotherapy, which is promising.
In the end, it’s always interesting to check what exactly the drugs you’re taking do in your body, except for the obvious things. Depending on how much you liked this post, I might write something about other drugs in the future too. Leave me a suggestion if you want!
Sources:
The Use of Noscapine (Narcotine) as an Antitussive Agent
Pharmacology and Therapeutic Potential of Sigma1 Receptor Ligands
The Sigma Receptor: Evolution of the Concept in Neuropsychopharmacology
Engineering biosynthesis of the anticancer alkaloid noscapine in yeast
Picture credit:
1 By Louise Joly, one half of AtelierJoly (Own work) [CC BY-SA 1.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/1.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
2By Lordjuppiter (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Hi @suesa, Conspiracy theory or truth? What's your take on it:
Very informative post. Shared.
Steem On!
I think that's mostly bullshit. Then again, it might depend on the country. In Germany, modern medicine and natural medicine often coexist, there are doctors who specialize in both and then use whatever is appropriate for the given issue.
This is 100% true. In Holland aswell. It gets scary when regular healthcare denies any benefit of natural sources as medicine. The other thing that is even more hurtfull is when unofficial healthcare providers keep really sick people out of the regular system in order to make money.👀
t.
In the USA often doctors are not allowed to recommend "alternative" therapies when there are drugs designed to treat the problem. A medical doctor is literally not allowed to recommend natural alternatives
It’s very saddening to me. I am currently in pharmacy school and I have seen and experienced the benefits of natural medication overseas, yet have not learned any of these applications in school. Therefore self education is important!
Exactly! I've had to do a lot of research on problems I've had in the past to see if the supplements that are working for me have interaction problems with new meds that the doctors want me to take!
Good for you!!! Self-education in today’s world is one of the most important things to do!!
I see. Things can't be in black and white. They can co-exist. This makes sense to me. Thank You!
Medicine industry destroys our health. Particularly, anticancer drugs and fluorine tap water, This is true.
So true. As the meme goes: "100-200 years ago people ate organic unprocessed food and didnt have vaccines and lived to the ripe old age of died in childbirth ".
Very informative post. I suggest writing about what's in the vaccines we take, since there are many conspiracy theories that state that vaccines contain mercury and aluminium that damage our brains and cause Autism and ADHD
I wrote about vaccines twice and swore to myself never to touch that subject again on Steemit, too many anti-vaxxers. I need my mental energy too much to spend it on endless discussions with them. I tried it too many times ^^
This exactly. I have had that discussion with the mother of my ex-gf. Also the reason it's my ex now.
t.
I certainly hope you no one reading this believes those ideas... There's no evidence.
Great detail! I wish our pharma text books at med school were that easy to read :p
Maybe someone should pay me to rewrite those 🤔
Agreed lol
I usually take African herbs...roots. I am going back to our ancestor's ways :)
Organic chemistry and its long formulas make that part of chemistry a bit of a bother in high school.
Yes, switch pills with a controlled amount of one or two chemicals for plants with an uncontrolled amount of dozens if not hundreds of chemicals. Back to our ancestor's ways :P
Organic chemistry sucked, mostly because of the naming system. I mean I get why they're doing it like that but .... it still sucks.
I remember my English teacher telling us this in first year in high school, "This is not difficult, just wait till you are in senior class to do organic chemistry which you MUST CRAM."
If it was to scare us it didn't work as we still ended up doing it :)
And you're the one who has been taking chamomile tea with honey! ;) So talking about the ancestor's ways..
shhhhhh
nice one. i could not agree more. and if you are unlucky some doctors may even get upset / angry at you for asking. happened to me before. anyway i find that the less medication you take the less prone you are to fall sick - kids especially. and the less you take them, the more effective they are at times when you REALLY need them. speaking from experience. looking forward to more stuff from you!
When I chose my doctor, I made it clear from the beginning that I study biology and want the facts, not some watered down version. The effect is that 1. She's always very honest about everything and 2. When I come in and say "this, this and this are the problems, I suspect it might be that" she takes me serious. So far, it always worked out as expected.
It's true that taking medicine when it's not really needed isn't that smart, ESPECIALLY when it comes to antibiotics. But one needs to recognize at which point medicine is necessary. A good and reliable doctor is crucial for that and they're way too rare.
Spot on.
Even thought we are not specialists in chemistry or anything that has to do with this , we must admit that we do not know what we put in our mouth once we take a pill . Even thought we have a description on the medicine there must be hidden facts that aren't told to us .
Not necessarily hidden but hard to understand. For someone with no medical, chemical or biological background, the mechanisms of certain drugs can be hard to understand.
Appreciate that also true.
Ugh medicines! I rather not use them if I could. Anyway very useful and informative article, thank you.
I never research the drugs the doctor gives me. I would just get scared at the side effects
Everything has side effects, go hard or go home! :P But I understand you, sometimes it's better to not know all the things that can go wrong.
You should write about some painkillers too.. I'm kinda addicted to them. OH WAIT THIS DIDNT SOUND RIGHT. :)
Crossed my mind, maybe I will :)
Try kratom, it's a leaf from a tree that grows in Indonesia. It has some of the same properties as an opiate, but it doesn't suppress breathing, you can't OD on it, and the withdrawl symptoms if you use large quantities for a long time are not anywhere near as severe as from prescription opiates or heroin. Often people use it to 'step down" from prescription or street opiates before quitting completely.
I come from a place where we rarely question a doctor so whatever s/he prescribes becomes a fact. This post is like some eye opener on my end.
Because...
Yes I google drugs but not to question the doctor. It's always to lightly understand what they do. Sometimes I understand, sometimes I don't. But never have I ever worried about whats in them. Now I will always be. Thank you!
Sometimes it's just good to know what you're taking. A former doc once prescribed me something against my infected pierced ear. When I picked it up I noticed there's iodine in it - which is not good when you have thyroid issues. But I wouldn't have known that if I hadn't checked. The doc didn't know, it wasn't his fault, but it could have damaged me.
I will be checking everything trust me. I told you... You elevate my mind with your detailed explanations!