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Other names | 12-Hydroxyibogamine; Ibogamin-12-ol; O-Desmethylibogaine; O-Demethylibogaine; O-Noribogaine; (–)-Noribogaine |
Routes of administration | Oral [1] [2] |
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Pharmacokinetic data | |
Elimination half-life | 24–50 hours [3] [1] [2] |
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Chemical and physical data | |
Formula | C19H24N2O |
Molar mass | 296.414 g·mol−1 |
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Noribogaine, also known as O-desmethylibogaine or 12-hydroxyibogamine, is the principal psychoactive metabolite of the oneirogen ibogaine. It is thought to be involved in the antiaddictive effects of ibogaine-containing plant extracts, such as Tabernanthe iboga . [4] [5] [6] [7]
Noribogaine is the major active metabolite of the oneirogen ibogaine and is thought to be primarily though not exclusively responsible for its effects. [8] [9] In contrast to ibogaine, noribogaine has been limitedly evaluated in humans. [8] It was noted in 2007 that administration of noribogaine to humans had not yet been reported. [8] In 2015 and 2016 however, two clinical studies of noribogaine were published. [1] [2] It was tested at relatively low doses of 3 to 180 mg in these studies. [1] [2] At these doses, no hallucinations, dream-like states, or other hallucinogenic effects were reported. [1] [2] Similarly, it produced no μ-opioid receptor agonistic pharmacodynamic effects, such as pupil constriction or analgesia. [1] At higher doses, in the area of 400 to 1,000 mg or more, ibogaine has been reported to produce hallucinogenic effects. [8] [10] [11]
Side effects of noribogaine include visual impairment (specifically increased light perception sensitivity), headache, nausea, vomiting, and QT prolongation. [1] [2]
Target | Affinity (Ki, nM) | Species |
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5-HT1A | >100,000 (Ki) IA (EC50 ) | Rat Human |
5-HT1B | >100,000 (Ki) IA (EC50) | Calf Human |
5-HT1D | >100,000 (Ki) IA (EC50) | Calf Human |
5-HT1E | ND (Ki) IA (EC50) | ND Human |
5-HT1F | ND (Ki) IA (EC50) | ND Human |
5-HT2A | >100,000 (Ki) IA (EC50) | Rat Human |
5-HT2B | ND (Ki) IA (EC50) | ND Human |
5-HT2C | >100,000 (Ki) IA (EC50) | Calf Human |
5-HT3 | >100,000 (Ki) ND (EC50) | Mouse/rat ND |
5-HT4 | ND (Ki) IA (EC50) | ND Human |
5-HT5A | ND (Ki) IA (EC50) | ND Human |
5-HT6 | ND (Ki) IA (EC50) | ND Human |
5-HT7 | ND | ND |
α1A–α1D | ND | ND |
α2A–α2C | ND | ND |
β1–β3 | ND | ND |
D1, D2 | >10,000 | Calf |
D3 | >100,000 | Calf |
D4, D5 | ND | ND |
H1–H4 | ND | ND |
M1 | 15,000 | Calf |
M2 | 36,000 | Calf |
M3–M5 | ND | ND |
nACh | ND (Ki) 6,820 (IC50 ) | ND Human |
I1, I2 | ND | ND |
σ1 | 11,000–15,006 | Calf/guinea pig |
σ2 | 5,226–19,000 | Calf/rat |
MOR | 1,520 (Ki) 7,420–16,050 (EC50) 3–36% (Emax ) | Human Human Human |
DOR | 5,200–24,720 (Ki) IA (EC50) | Calf Human |
KOR | 720 (Ki) 110–8,749 (EC50) 13–85% (Emax) | Human Human Human |
NOP | >100,000 | Bovine |
TAAR1 | ND | ND |
PCP | 5,480–38,200 | Rat/bovine/human |
SERT | 41 (Ki) 280–326 (IC50) 840 or IA (EC50) ~30% or IA (Emax) | Human Human Human Human |
NET | ND (Ki) 39,000 (IC50) ND (EC50) | ND Bovine ND |
DAT | 2,050 (Ki) 6,760 (IC50) ND (EC50) | Human Human ND |
VMAT2 | 570–29,500 (IC50) | Human |
OCT2 | 6,180 (IC50) | Human |
VGSC | 17,000 (Ki) | Bovine |
VGCC | ND (IC50) | ND |
hERG | 1,960 (Ki) 2,860 (IC50) | Human Human |
Notes: The smaller the value, the more avidly the drug binds to the site. All proteins are human unless otherwise specified. Refs: [12] [13] [3] [9] [14] [15] [16] [17] [18] [19] [20] [21] [22] [23] [24] [25] [26] |
Noribogaine has been determined to act as a biased agonist of the κ-opioid receptor (KOR). [27] It activates the G protein (GDP-GTP exchange) signaling pathway with 75% the efficacy of dynorphin A (EC50 = 9 μM), but it is only 12% as efficacious at activating the β-arrestin pathway. [27] With an IC50 value of 1 μM, it can be regarded as an antagonist of the latter pathway. [27]
The β-arrestin signaling pathway is hypothesized to be responsible for the anxiogenic, dysphoric, or anhedonic effects of KOR activation. [28] Attenuation of the β-arrestin pathway by noribogaine may be the reason for the absence of these aversive effects, [27] while retaining analgesic and antiaddictive properties. This biased KOR activity makes it stand out from the other iboga alkaloids like ibogaine and the derivative 18-methoxycoronaridine (18-MC). [27]
Noribogaine is a potent serotonin reuptake inhibitor, [29] but does not affect the reuptake of dopamine. [30] Unlike ibogaine, noribogaine does not bind to the sigma-2 receptor. [31] [32] Similarly to ibogaine, noribogaine acts as a weak NMDA receptor antagonist and binds to opioid receptors. [33] It has greater affinity for each of the opioid receptors than does ibogaine. [34] Noribogaine has been reported to be a low-efficacy serotonin releasing agent, although findings are conflicting and other studies have found that it is inactive as a serotonin releasing agent. [25] [24]
Noribogaine is a hERG inhibitor and appears at least as potent as ibogaine. [35] The inhibition of the hERG potassium channel delays the repolarization of cardiac action potentials, resulting in QT interval prolongation and, subsequently, in arrhythmias and sudden cardiac arrest. [36]
Noribogaine has been reported to be a potent psychoplastogen similarly to ibogaine. [18] [17] [37] [25]
Ibogaine and the structurally related hallucinogen harmaline are tremorigenic, whereas noribogaine is not or is much less so. [17] [16] [38] [39]
Noribogaine is highly lipophilic and shows high brain penetration in rodents. [15] [3]
The elimination half-life of noribogaine is 24 to 50 hours. [3] [1] [2]
Noribogaine was first described in the scientific literature by at least 1958. [40] [39] It was first identified and described as a metabolite of ibogaine by 1995. [41] [42] [34] [43] The first evaluation of noribogaine in humans was published in 2015. [1] [2]
Visual changes involving change in light perception were reported shortly after dosing, mainly by subjects dosed with 120–180 mg. These changes only occurred during the drug absorption phase, being first reported 1 hour after dosing, and had disappeared by 2.5–3 hours. No hallucinations or dream-like states were reported. In contrast higher ibogaine doses produced symptoms including light sensitivity and closed-eyed dream-like states for 4–8 hours.15
Unlike LSD, mescaline, and psilocybin, the hallucinogenic properties of ibogaine cannot be ascribed to 5-HT2A receptor activation.
Indeed, an active metabolite of ibogaine, noribogaine, has already been well characterized both in vivo (e.g., 2,3) and in vitro (e.g., 35,36). Although some investigators (37) consider noribogaine to be the major determinant of ibogaine's pharmacology in vivo, studies in this laboratory (20) indicated that the elimination of noribogaine was also too fast for it to be responsible for all of ibogaine's prolonged effects. [...] The short-half lives of ibogaine and 18-MC strongly suggest that the pharmacological actions of both alkaloids are attributable to one or more active metabolites; although noribogaine has been proposed (2,37) as the mediator of ibogaine's prolonged action, it would appear that noribogaine alone cannot account for ibogaine's effects since brain levels of noribogaine also decline rapidly after ibogaine administration to rats (20).
Ibogaine is an active hallucinogen in the 400 milligram area and has been clinically studied for the treatment of heroin addiction. In this latter role, the dosages employed may range as high as 1500mg. A primary human metabolism is via O-demethylation to give the free phenol 12-hydroxyibogamine. This metabolite, misnamed nor-ibogaine in the literature, appears to be pharmacologically active in its own right.
Like the structurally relate harmaline, ibogaine produces tremors. In mice, ibogaine is tremorigenic, both when given intracerebrally (ED50 127 nmol/g brain, pg/g with a latency to tremor of about 1 min) (Singbarth et al., 1973) and systemically (ED50 12 mg/kg subcutaneous) (Zetler et al., 1972). Zetler et al. (1972) also established the tremorigenic structure-activity relationship of several ibogaine-like compounds, with the descending order of potency: tabernanthine > ibogaline > ibogaine > iboxygaine > noribogaine. Recently, Glick et al. (1994) found that, whereas ibogaine and tabernanthine produced tremors, ibogamine and coronaridine were devoid of such an effect.
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