Posted by nolvas on October 5, 2005, at 7:39:07
In reply to Thanks » nolvas, posted by verne on October 4, 2005, at 21:42:39
I've been looking at Mimosa Hostilis a bit more and it doesn't seem to be the same as Albizia. Mimosa Hostilis seems to be used along with an MAOI to produce strong psychedelic effects like DMT. Which is not what I'm looking for heh.
Albizia seems to be difficult to find on it's own an d just referred to as Mimosa. Planet herbs won't ship internationally either.
I've also found this study done this year >
Jung JW, Cho JH, Ahn NY, Oh HR, Kim SY, Jang CG, Ryu JH
Effect of chronic Albizzia julibrissin treatment on 5-hydroxytryptamine1A receptors in rat brain.
Pharmacol Biochem Behav. 2005 May;81(1):205-10.
Quantitative receptor autoradiography and behavioral studies were employed to investigate whether the aqueous extract of Albizzia julibrissin (AEAJ) specifically targets serotonergic systems in rat brain. AEAJ was orally administered at 50 and 200 mg/kg to adult male SD rats for 7 days. Treatment with AEAJ (200 mg/kg) significantly increased time-spent in open arms and the number of open arm entries in an elevated plus-maze (EPM) versus saline controls (P<0.05). Moreover, those effects of AEAJ were blocked by WAY 100635, a 5-HT1A receptor antagonist. Following behavioral evaluation, the binding of [3H]8-hyroxy-2-(di-n-propylamino) tertalin ([3H]8-OH-DPAT) to 5-HT1A receptors in rat brain was investigated. [3H]8-OH-DPAT binding after AEAJ (200 mg/kg) treatment showed a marked increase in the frontal cortex, hippocampus (CA2 and CA3 regions) and in the lateral septum versus vehicle-treated controls. No changes of [3H]8-OH-DPAT binding were observed in the caudate putamen, dentate gyrus and CA1 areas of the hippocampus or in the hypothalamus. In the dorsal raphe region, [3H]8-OH-DPAT binding was significantly reduced by AEAJ (50 mg/kg) treatment but was unchanged by AEAJ (200 mg/kg). These results suggest that the anxiolytic-like effect of A. julibrissin is mediated by the changes of serotonergic nervous system, especially 5-HT1A receptors.
So I see growing evidence that Albizia is useful in treating depressive and anxious states. It appears from that study that it's a 5HT1a agonist. I've also read studies that say it works on Gaba system in the brain as well. That's why these type of herbs are so interesting. Where as conventional drugs usually target one or two receptor systems in the brain, herbs can affect a variety of receptors in a synergistic way, that as of yet no pharmaceutical drug is capable of.This page is very informative and interesting regarding Serotonin receptors and Anxiety.
http://www.acnp.org/g4/GN401000125/CH123.html
poster:nolvas
thread:561902
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/alter/20050924/msgs/563112.html