salsolinol

They found the highest concentration of TIQs 12 hours after the alcohol was ingested, with salsolinol showing the highest concentration.6

Alcohol and The Addictive Brain Kenneth Blum 1991

When their urine was checked, it was discovered that levels of both types of TIQs were higher than in the first two subjects, but salsolinol was highest.

Alcohol and The Addictive Brain Kenneth Blum 1991

The method they used for measurement was highly complicated, involving radiographic analysis of a special metabolite of salsolinol, but their findings were simple: Recovering, nondrinking alcoholics had a higher level of salsalinol in their blood than the nonalcoholics.

Alcohol and The Addictive Brain Kenneth Blum 1991

In preliminary experiments, they had not been able to find the TIQ salsolinol in mammalian brain tissue following short-term alcohol administration.

Alcohol and The Addictive Brain Kenneth Blum 1991

Rat brain formation of salsolinol, a condensation product of dopamine and acetaldehyde, under certain conditions during ethanol intoxication, Life Sciences 16 1975: 585-601.

Alcohol and The Addictive Brain Kenneth Blum 1991

Although he was unable to find salsolinol without this chemical manipulation, Collins felt that it was probable that long-term alcohol abuse would lead to vitamin deficiencies and liver damage, and that these deficiencies, in turn, would increase acetaldehyde levels—leading to the formation of TIQs.

Alcohol and The Addictive Brain Kenneth Blum 1991

To answer the third question, B. A. Faraj and associates at Emory University School of Medicine in Atlanta measured the amount of the TIQ salsolinol in chronic alcoholics who were recovering and not drinking, and compared it to the amount found in the blood of nonalcoholics.

Alcohol and The Addictive Brain Kenneth Blum 1991

Goldstein was far from convinced, but he did accept from me a vial containing a sample of a TIQ if I remember correctly, it was salsolinol, and promised to test it in his lab where he was set up to do opiate receptor bio-assays.

Alcohol and The Addictive Brain Kenneth Blum 1991

The results showed that when dopamine supplies are built up or protected in the presence of alcohol, the TIQ salsolinol is found in detectable quantities.8

Alcohol and The Addictive Brain Kenneth Blum 1991

Suspecting that the problem was a concentration of TIQ too low to be detected, they set up an experiment in which rat brain chemistry was modified to increase concentrations of dopamine and acetaldehyde prior to testing for salsolinol.

Alcohol and The Addictive Brain Kenneth Blum 1991