Comparative metabolomics analysis reveals alkaloid repertoires in young and mature Mitragyna speciosa (Korth.) Havil. Leaves

Abstract

The fresh leaves of Mitragyna speciosa (Korth.) Havil. have been traditionally consumed for centuries in Southeast Asia for its healing properties. Although the alkaloids of M. speciosa have been studied since the 1920s, comparative and systematic studies of metabolite composition based on different leaf maturity levels are still lacking. This study assessed the secondary metabolite composition in two different leaf stages (young and mature) of M. speciosa, using an untargeted liquid chromatography-electrospray ionisation-time-of-flight-mass spectrometry (LC-ESI-TOF-MS) metabolite profiling. The results revealed 86 putatively annotated metabolite features (RT:m/z value) comprising 63 alkaloids, 10 flavonoids, 6 terpenoids, 3 phenylpropanoids, and 1 of each carboxylic acid, glucoside, phenol, and phenolic aldehyde. The alkaloid features were further categorised into 14 subclasses, i.e., the most abundant class of secondary metabolites identified. As per previous reports, indole alkaloids are the most abundant alkaloid subclass in M. speciosa. The result of multivariate analysis (MVA) using principal component analysis (PCA) showed a clear separation of 92.8% between the young and mature leaf samples, indicating a high variance in metabolite levels between them. Akuammidine, alstonine, tryptamine, and yohimbine were tentatively identified among the many new alkaloids reported in this study, depicting the diverse biological activities of M. speciosa. Besides delving into the knowledge of metabolite distribution in different leaf stages, these findings have extended the current alkaloid repository of M. speciosa for a better understanding of its pharmaceutical potential.

Changes in the Metabolome and Nutritional Quality of Pulp from Three Types of Korla Fragrant Pears with Different Appearances as Revealed by Widely Targeted Metabolomics

“…Only six alkaloids were found at higher levels in RS than in SD, including L-tyramine, trigonelline, and dhurrin (Figure S7). These results indicate that SD is richer in medicinally beneficial alkaloids that have outstanding biological activities [64]. We also found an interesting phenomenon in which the levels of most terpenoids in CV were significantly higher than those in RS and SD (Figure S8).…”

Examining the Psychoactive Differences between Kratom Strains

“…While such findings support the notion that the ingredients of different kratom products can vary substantially, thus far no empirical research has explored whether kratom products sold as different strains are reliably associated with distinct effect profiles. One phytochemical study did examine the metabolomic profile of young and mature kratom leaves and identified five unique alkaloids between the young and mature leaves while 76 secondary metabolites were present in both leaf samples, albeit in different concentrations [18]. While the major alkaloid mitragynine is present in approximately equal amounts in both young and mature leaves, some of the other indole alkaloids, including speciogynine, speciociliatine, and 7-hyroxymitragynine, are present in higher abundance in mature leaves.…”