Catnip (Nepeta cataria) is a common herb from the mint family. It has feather-like, light-green foliage with lavender flowers, and it is commonly seen in North America. According to PetMD, catnip is a primary ingredient in some natural bug sprays, and its leaves can be used to make tea while its flowers are said to relieve coughs.
Cats are very fond of catnip. They often respond to the plant by rubbing their faces and head to it and rolls to the ground before zooming out as if it was intoxicated.
Scientists did not know the biological mechanisms by which the magic of catnip works on the felines or whether it has any additional benefits until researchers found something interesting.
Catnip and Silver Vine Induces a Euphoric State on Cats
An international team of scientists published a study in Science Advances which showed that silver vine contains nepetalactol, which induces a euphoric state that activates the opioids reward system of a cats' brain. It is similar to nepetalactone, which is the primary psychoactive compound found in catnip.
Professor Masao Miyazaki of Iwate University in Japan and his team tested 25 lab cats, 30 feral cats, and several big cats like Amur leopard, two jaguars, and two Eurasian lynx if they could detect nepetalactol. They noticed that the cats responded to the paper soaked with the compound and spent more time with it than the plain filter paper that serves as a control.
Comparing it to other animals, the researchers also tried a similar experiment on dogs and lab mice but saw that these animals have no interest in the nepetalactol-soaked paper.
Phys.org reported that the researchers also confirmed that the cats were attracted to the most potent bioactive compounds of the silver vine, which is the nepetalactol, after comparing it to the other bioactive compounds found in the plant.
Moreover, when the researchers tested if the compound does affect the brain's opioid system, they found that the cats were having elected endorphin concentrations after exposure to nepetalactol. But when they gave the cats naloxone, a drug that inhibits the effects of opioids, the cats stopped rubbing themselves against the paper with nepetalactol.
That means the compound is non-addictive to cats, unlike how opioids work on humans, which causes addiction. Nepetalactol only triggers the production of the endorphin levels on the cat's body.
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Catnip as Mosquito Repellant
Miyazaki was applying for a patent to use the findings of their studying to make a mosquito repellant. Their study showed that catnip and silver vine has properties that ward off mosquitoes.
They noticed that as cats rubbed against the silver vine leaves, fewer mosquitoes landed on cats, which could mean that the plant repelled Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, according to Phys.org.
The researchers wrote that this is an example of how animals use plant metabolites for protection against insect pests. This mechanism has also been observed in birds that rub on citrus fruits, and chimpanzees who make their sleeping platforms from trees with insect repellant properties.
READ MORE: Ever Wonder Why Your Cat Takes Too Many Naps?
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