He says yeast could conceivably produce cannabinoids for about $400 a kilogram—compared to the $40,000-a-kilo price tag when using synthetic chemistry.
And some of these neurotransmitters are cannabinoids -- chemicals that, when accepted by your neurons, can inhibit the release of other neurotransmitters.
In examining another cannabinoid, cannabidiol -- that is, CBD -- we were actually surprised to see features relevant to alleviating opioid addiction-related behaviors.
The active ingredient in cannabis -- known as THC -- basically imitates a cannabinoid and binds to its receptors, interfering with the normal function of neurons.
STEP 7 Open a box of chocolates. Besides containing the love chemical PEA, chocolate has a small amount of cannabinoids, the same chemical compounds that give marijuana its relaxing properties.
Now, among the brain cells that have cannabinoid receptors on them are a special set of cells that are thought to regulate eating -- known as POMC neurons.
Doctor John Huffman is a chemist at Clemson University whose research on marijuana's effects in the eighties and nineties led to the development of these knock-off cannabinoids.