MedicalResearch.com Interview with: John M. Streicher, PhD Professor, Neuroscience - GIDP Professor, Pharmacology College of Medicine Tucson Pharmacology University of Arizona   MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: We first started studying terpenes around 2019, when my student Justin LaVigne became interested in these molecules and their potential interaction with cannabinoids and other chemicals in cannabis, the so-called “entourage effect.” The literature at the time showed that terpenes could be beneficial in pain relief and other indications, in both animal and human studies; however, there were limits to the literature, such as a lack of investigation into therapeutic features like side effects and a relative lack of detailed molecular mechanisms. We started by testing 5 purified terpenes in mice, geraniol, linalool, beta-caryophyllene, alpha-humulene, and beta-pinene. We found they had a “cannabimimetic” effect in that they produced behaviors much like cannabinoids, but not through the cannabinoid receptors. This was published in 2021. (more…)