Cocaine as a naturally occurring insecticide

Although cocaine has a fascinating and complex medicinal history in man, its natural function in plants is unknown. The present studies demonstrate that cocaine exerts insecticidal effects at concentrations which occur naturally in coca leaves. Unlike its known action on dopamine reuptake in mammals...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences - PNAS Vol. 90; no. 20; pp. 9645 - 9648
Main Authors:	Nathanson, J.A, Hunnicutt, E.J, Kantham, L, Scavone, C
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	Washington, DC National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 15-10-1993 National Acad Sciences National Academy of Sciences
Subjects:	AMINAS AMINAS BIOGENICAS AMINE AMINE BIOGENE Amines Animals Biological and medical sciences Biological Transport - drug effects Biology BLABERUS Chemical control COCAINA COCAINE Cocaine - pharmacology Control Dopamine - physiology Dosage ERYTHROXYLUM EXTRACTOS VEGETALES EXTRAIT D'ORIGINE VEGETALE Feeding Behavior - drug effects FEUILLE Flowers & plants Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology HOJAS Insect behavior Insect biochemistry Insect larvae Insect pests INSECTE NUISIBLE INSECTICIDAS INSECTICIDE Insecticides INSECTOS DANINOS Invertebrates Larva Leaves MANDUCA SEXTA Moths - drug effects Neurology Norepinephrine Octopamine - physiology Pesticides Phytopathology. Animal pests. Plant and forest protection Plant Physiological Phenomena Plants Protozoa. Invertebrates Reuptake Synaptic Transmission - drug effects Insecticide Toxicity Insecta Natural product Plant leaf Sphingidae Biological activity Erythroxylaceae Larva Arthropoda Dicotyledones Octopamine Angiospermae Lepidoptera Biogenic amine Manduca sexta Spermatophyta Cocaine Invertebrata Mechanism of action Neurotransmission
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Summary:	Although cocaine has a fascinating and complex medicinal history in man, its natural function in plants is unknown. The present studies demonstrate that cocaine exerts insecticidal effects at concentrations which occur naturally in coca leaves. Unlike its known action on dopamine reuptake in mammals, cocaine's pesticidal effects are shown to result from a potentiation of insect octopaminergic neurotransmission. Amine-reuptake blockers of other structural classes also exert pesticidal activity with a rank order of potency distinct from that known to affect vertebrate amine transporters. These findings suggest that cocaine functions in plants as a natural insecticide and that octopamine transporters may be useful sites for targeting pesticides with selectivity toward invertebrates.
Bibliography:	9438594 Q60 H10 L72 ObjectType-Article-2 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-1 content type line 23
ISSN:	0027-8424 1091-6490
DOI:	10.1073/pnas.90.20.9645