What are Kratom Alkaloids?

You might be hearing people talk about alkaloids in kratom. Here is a simple breakdown of what alkaloids are and what they do.

Alkaloids are a diverse group of naturally occurring organic compounds that contain nitrogen atoms, often found in plants. They typically have pronounced physiological effects on humans and animals. Alkaloids have various pharmacological properties. Some well-known alkaloids include caffeine, nicotine, morphine, and quinine.

Scientists have identified 54 alkaloids in kratom. Many of the 54 alkaloids occur in very trace amounts.

While fresh leaf kratom has been consumed for at least hundreds of years in Southeast Asia, kratom is relatively new to modern science. Also, Americans who consume regular, large doses of dried powder and highly concentrated kratom extracts are consuming kratom in a way that's never been done traditionally.

Therefore, there is insufficient research to understand exactly how all of these alkaloids work alone and together, and how the alkaloids may differ in fresh leaf and dried kratom or in concentrated extract products.

For the vast majority of kratom leaves, the most abundant alkaloid is mitragynine (pronounced mit-rah-GUY-neen or my-TRAH-gin-een depending on who you talk to). Mitragynine is a complex alkaloid that acts on opioid, adrenergic, and seratonergic receptors in the brain.

Other alkaloids speciogynine, speciociliatine, and mitraciliatine are "diastereoisomers" of mitragynine, meaning they contain the same number of carbon atoms. These alkaloids are so similar to mitragynine that special equipment is needed to tell them apart.

Paynantheine is another kratom alkaloid that appears to act on opioid receptors. Corynantheidine appears to have an affinity for adrenergic receptors. Again, more research needs to be done on how alkaloids behave individually and how they all behave when interacting together.

A metabolite of mitragynine, 7-hydroxymitragynine, appears to strongly bind to opioid receptors. It does not show up in fresh leaf kratom, and in very trace amounts in dried leaf kratom. Pharmacologists have found that this alkaloid shows up in the body during the metabolism of the mitragynine compound, therefore it is called a "metabolite" of mitragynine.

For more information on kratom alkaloids, please see follow these links to peer reviewed research:

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biopha.2024.116134

https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acschemneuro.2c00704