Endogenous benzodiazepines

The existence of endogenous benzodiazepines such as diazepam and nordiazepa m has been provided in human blood and brains as well as in medicinal plant s and foods. It must be stressed, however, that in plasma and brain tissue there are also other benzodiazepine-like compounds termed 'endozepines' whi ch are not halogenated. A synthetic pathway for the production of benzodiaz epine-like compounds and endozepines has not yet been found, hence it may b e surmised that these compounds could be: of exogenous source. Changes in t he level of endogenous circulating benzodiazepines due to food or drug inge stion could be responsible for pathological conditions. Clinical experiment s were designed in order to study the levels of the endogenous benzodiazepi nes in vegetables and in the blood of control subjects and of cirrhotic pat ients. These patients accumulate benzodiazepines because of decreased liver metabolization capacity and impaired renal secretion, reaching plasma conc entrations similar to those recorded in commercial benzodiazepine consumers .