like most people I've been spending a
lot of time at home lately more than
usual and being home 24/7 means you
start to notice some things that you
don't usually see these days my office
is my kitchen table and my coworkers are
my cats Loki and Bill so I've had a
front seat to all of their daily drama
including Loki's obsession with this
little Pizza toy
he loves this toy a lot like a lot a lot
it's nothing special just some crinkle
paper wrapped in fabric but after seeing
him drool all over it I realized the
reason is probably because it's filled
with catnip he's just getting really
high so as I watched him playing around
with his stuffed crust pizza toy I
started to wonder how does catnip work
that's right y'all I'm doing the cat
video this time catnip also called cat
wart or cat mint is a plant native to
Europe the Middle East and Central Asia
and has been naturalized in the UK US
and New Zealand it sort of looks like
mint with soft fuzzy leaves and small
white blossoms before it became popular
as a treat for our furry friends
catnip had historically been used for
medicinal purposes as a tea or tincture
or even smoking people used it to help
with everything from colic flatulence
childbirth and menstruation to headaches
pain relief and more not terribly
surprising seems like back in the day
people would eat drink or smoke anything
to treat various ailments it has also
been used to attract butterflies and
deter unwanted
and pest insects like mosquitoes and
flies but now to the real question does
catnip get humans hi a paper I found
from 1990 claim that if smoked by humans
catnip reduces the high similar to
cannabis and can cause visual and
auditory hallucinations the author even
claimed that in the 60s it was used as
an alternative or filler from marijuana
a few other people have reported smoking
catnip and feeling a cannabis like hi
but to be honest it seems like the users
were experiencing a placebo effect
there's at least one case report of a
toddler eating a bunch of catnip and
experiencing central nervous system
depression and others showing that oil
extracted from catnip induces sleepiness
in rats and chicks but those papers are
all either behind paywalls or not
available on the internet and the
evidence that is out there is pretty
shaky like a 1969 paper claiming that
catnip gets you high but they actually
mixed up cannabis and catnip which
doesn't really support the idea that
catnip would make a good marijuana
substitute and like think about it if
can I've got you high wouldn't even been
warned about it during dare McGruff the
Crime Dog would be all over that it's
possible that with more study we'll find
out whether or not catnip itself has any
psychoactive effects but so far the
evidence isn't strong okay so I probably
can't get high off of it
not that I tried but just because it
doesn't do anything for me doesn't mean
that it doesn't work on my cats can leap
has been described as a sort of pot for
cat push for cure for felines for
tabbies
so how does it work well the active
ingredient in catnip is nepeta laughs
Tony a terpenoid terpenoids are organic
compounds found in plants that are
primary components of essential oils and
are generally known for their aromatic
qualities other well-known terpenoids
include THC and CBD which are found in
cannabis in cats the fragrant
nepetalactone enters their nasal passage
and binds to olfactory receptor neurons
this sets off a cascading signaling
response through the olfactory bulb and
back to the amygdala and hypothalamus
regions of the brain two major
components of the limbic system the
amygdala is important for processing
memory and emotions especially fear and
aggression while the hypothalamus
regulates body systems including
temperature thirst hunger sleep and sex
drive overall the limbic system
regulates emotional responses and memory
and plays a key role in the regulation
of basic bodily functions
when nepeta lactone activates this
circuit by binding to a factory neurons
the signal generates a sexual response
almost like the cat is responding to an
artificial sex pheromone this is what
leads to the sniffing licking drooling
yowling rolling around and kicking
associated with the catnip hi so when
you're giving your cat catnip it's small
like giving them viagra or ecstasy than
it is like giving them lean the catnip
high usually lasts around 15 to 20
minutes before the cat chills out and
then they don't respond again to catnip
for a while at least an hour anecdotally
it also seems like frequency of exposure
reduces the strength of the response
cats who ingest catnip often don't seem
to react as strongly as cats who only
have it infrequently and interestingly
enough not all cats respond to catnip
only around two-thirds of cats seem to
get turned on by the stuff while the
rest find it boring research indicates
this
due to genetics cats need to have a
certain gene variant to show the
specific response so that raises the
question do our cats like catnip I mean
I know Loki likes this pizza toy but
maybe I'm wrong about the catnip
maybe it's the crinkly paper or he's
secretly a pizza fiend what if I just
give him straight patna and what about
bill let's test it out so I've got some
dried catnip here that I just picked up
it's brand new that fresh good stuff
let's rub a couple of similar toys in
the catnip and see how they react now
let's watch some cats get high
[Music]
what about your cats do they like catnip
how do they react when you give it to
them and how do you feel about giving
your cats a sexual stimulant let us know
in the comments below thanks for
watching this episode of neuro
transmissions if you liked it make sure
you keep an eye out for our upcoming
book which will feature both of these
good good cats until our next
transmission I'm alie astrocyte
[Music]
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