KRATOM ALKALOIDS
Understand the two distinct areas of kratom research: studying the safety and efficacy of whole leaf kratom products vs. isolated kratom alkaloids.
First, it is necessary to define two distinct areas of kratom research. One set of research investigates the safety and efficacy of whole leaf kratom products while the other looks at the safety and efficacy of isolated kratom alkaloids. A researcher, Ben-Shabat, first described a phenomenon when evaluating cannabinoid system called the “entourage effect”. He observed that inactive endogenous compounds enhanced the activity of other compounds (1). This has been extended throughout the cannabis industry to explore how the multitude of compounds within a botanical create the overall effect when consumed (2-5). More recently, regarding kratom, this has been described as instruments in a symphony orchestra, where each alkaloid has its own specific set of notes to play that may not sound complete when isolated, yet when all played together in harmony produce beautiful music (6). The in vitro pharmacology of individual kratom alkaloids supports this description, in that isolated alkaloids have opposing effects on a multitude of receptor types, producing diverse effects in vivo.
VIDEO: Kratom Alkaloids
In all varieties of Mitragyna speciosa the most abundant alkaloid is called mitragynine. This is often followed by speciociliatine, speciogynine, and paynantheine. Other minor alkaloids that have been characterized include corynantheidine, mitraciliatine, and isopaynantheine. One alkaloid that is often mentioned as contributing to the effects of kratom ingestion that is not found in the fresh plant material is 7-hydroxymitragynine. Through post-harvest processing (exposure to heat, light, etc.) 7-hydroxymitragynine can be generated as a degradant of mitragynine but is not found in the fresh plant material (7).
Before beginning to discuss research further, it is important to understand that the kratom plant does not make alkaloids specifically for human consumption, but for its own survival. This means that altering the conditions in which the plant grows by increasing UV light exposure or altering the nutrients in the soil, for example, can alter the chemical composition of the plant (7).