Way Downstream …
Catnip for people? If you’ve ever wondered why your cat freaks and flops after a dose of catnip, a study from Britain released Monday offers an answer — and the possibility that the active ingredient may be used to combat diseases in humans.
The study in the journal Nature Chemical Biology by the John Innes Center concluded that catnip is rich in the compound called nepetalactone, which binds to receptors in the back of a cat’s nose that are especially sensitive to scents.
Not all cats get silly, but some two-thirds react by shaking their heads, rolling about and even getting noisy. And not just Fluffy in the kitchen; lions, tigers and felines in the wild also react as if they’ve been nipping at the sauce.
These observations aren’t new. Scientists noted the effects of catnip in the 18th century and perhaps even earlier. But the new study goes further, the authors say, by understanding how catnip makes the nepetalactones and how the plant might be used in treatment of human diseases.
“Catnip is performing unusual and unique chemical processes,” Innes’s Benjamin Lichtman said in a statement, “and we plan to use these to help us create useful compounds that can be used in treatment of diseases such as cancer.”