From Biohack

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kainate
  • Kainic acid is a natural marine acid present in some algae. It is a specific agonist for the kainate receptor used as an ionotrophic glutamate receptor which mimicks the effect of glutamate. It is used in experiments to distinguish a receptor from the other ionotropic receptors for glutamate such as NMDA and AMPA, a.k.a. quisqualate.
  • Kainic acid is a potent central nervous system stimulant, and has been developed as the prototype neuroexcitatory amino acid for the induction of seizures in experimental animals, at a typical dose of 10-30 mg/kg in mice. Kainic acid is neuroexcitotoxic and epileptogenic, acting through specific kainate receptors. Because of the supply shortage in 2000, the price of kainic acid has risen significantly.
    • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domoic_acid
      • In marine mammals, domoic acid typically causes seizures and tremors. In the brain, domoic acid especially damages the hippocampus and amygdaloid nucleus. It damages the neurons by activating AMPA and kainate receptors, causing an influx of calcium. Although calcium flowing into cells is a normal event, the uncontrolled increase of calcium causes the cell to degenerate. Because the hippocampus may be severely damaged, long-term memory loss occurs.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kainate_receptor

ionotropic glutamate receptors

Producers strive to bring kainic acid back on the market

Kainic acid and trying to get it back on the market

Jean-François Tremblay

Neuroscientists will once again be able to obtain kainic acid if the plans of two companies are successful. One firm, based in the U.K., is extracting kainic acid from an Asian seaweed, Digenea simplex, which is the substance's traditional source. The other firm, based in Nova Scotia, is planning to obtain kainic acid from seaweeds grown in seawater in its own greenhouses.

Kainic acid is a research tool neuroscientists use in laboratory environments to simulate brain degeneration ( C&EN, Jan. 3, page 14 ). Until 1995, the compound was extracted from Taiwanese seaweed by Taipei-based King Tom Pharmaceutical, primarily for use as an antiworming agent. Because better antiworming agents have been discovered, King Tom stopped production in 1995, and researchers have been trying to get their hands on the remaining stock of kainic acid that had been produced by the firm. As a result, the price of kainic acid has risen by more than 50 times to $100 per 10 mg. Neuroscientists researching ways to fight certain brain disorders have switched to cheaper but less effective means of simulating brain degeneration.

Ocean Produce International , based in Shelburne, Nova Scotia, now says it will produce kainic acid from algae called Opika-1 that it will grow in greenhouses that are under construction. Adelard A. Cayer, vice president of Ocean Produce, explains that Opika-1 is a natural mutation from the Rhodophyta division and theFlorideophycidae subclass of algae. He says the extraction of kainic acid will be performed by a Prince Edward Island firm named Diagnostic Chemicals. The lab work has been completed, he says, and the concentration of kainic acid in the mutated algae is much higher than it is inD. simplex . "We will go into full production in March," Cayer says.

Ocean Produce is not the only company that may be able to supply neuroscientists with kainic acid in coming months. Bristol, England-based Tocris Cookson says it obtained D. simplex from Asia a few weeks ago and is proceeding with the extraction in England. Duncan Crawford, head of R&D at Tocris, says that obtaining kainic acid has not been as straightforward as the firm had hoped. So far, the company has extracted only 500 mg from the seaweed, a fifth of what it expected. Worse, the product is only 96% pure--researchers require 99% purity. "However," Crawford says, "I am optimistic that we will have a viable commercial process before too long."

The shortage of kainic acid could have been halted some time ago. Ocean Produce, Cayer says, was contacted about two years ago by a company looking for kainic acid. But the Canadian firm paid little attention to the request at the time. "We were in the midst of a lot of things," Cayer says. One of the matters that was distracting Ocean Produce was that the firm was in the process of gearing up production and finding buyers for its main product, which is "sea parsley." This product is greenhouse-grown seaweed rich in vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and other nutrients. The company hopes to sell sea parsley as a condiment.

It's not clear how big the market is for kainic acid, Cayer says. "I have heard that annual demand is anywhere from 5 to 100 kg. It makes a big difference." Ocean Produce intends to bypass intermediaries and sell directly through the Internet to the scientific community. Cayer explains that he fears distributors may harm market demand by overcharging for kainic acid. "We built the facility to grow the product, get the yields that we need to extract, and supply our customers. If somebody in the chain disrupts it, we end up paying for it. Some research establishments are getting out of the use of kainic acid because it's too expensive or not available," he says. While Ocean Produce has not yet decided how much it will charge for kainic acid, Cayer expects it to be cheaper than the current market price.

Given that Opika-1 contains a much higher concentration of kainic acid than does D. simplex, according to Ocean Produce's Cayer, one wonders why another company can't build a greenhouse and extract kainic acid from Opika-1. The answer, Cayer says, is that "this plant is a mutation, and we own all the plants in the world."