Mitragyna speciosa is a plant species that grows in forests at low altitudes indigenous to Thailand, Malaysia, and Myanmar. Mitragyna speciosa is otherwise known as Kratom. In indigenous lands, Kratom is generally taken as a dried powder mixed with a liquid, brewed as a tea directly from its leaves, chewed on, and in some cases smoked in order to reduce pain, help with opioid withdrawal symptoms, diarrhea, cough, and among other medical side effects. Over twenty-five different alkaloids have been able to be isolated from Kratom leaves, two of them being mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine.
Purpose
Mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine are 398.5 g/mol and 414.5 g/mol respectively and are hydrophobic. In Kratom, 7-hydroxymitragynine consists of only approximately 2% of the total molecular makeup. While the majority of Kratom consists of Mitragynine (approximately 66.2%), mitragynine is easily converted to 7-hydroxymitragynine in vivo.[9] The compound 7-hydroxymitragynine is the primary opioid agonist and analgesic present in the plant although mitragynine has been shown to exhibit binding as well. With the ability for mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine to bind the u-opioid receptor (where most other opioids and analgesics bind) there is a potential new source of medicine. For sake of simplicity- the remainder of this page will use mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine interchangeably.
Disease
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Structural highlights
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