Lateral Flow Assessment and Unanticipated Toxicity of Kratom.

ABSTRACT: The leaves of the Mitragynine speciosia tree (also known as Kratom) have long been chewed, smoked, or brewed into a tea by people in Southeastern Asian countries, such as Malaysia and Thailand. Just this past year, the plant Kratom gained popularity in the United States as a "legal opioid" and scheduling it as a drug of abuse is currently pending. The primary alkaloid found in Kratom is a μ-opioid receptor agonist, mitragynine, whose structure contains a promising scaffold for immunopharmacological use. Although Kratom is regarded as a safe opioid alternative, here we report the LD₅₀ values determined for its two main psychoactive alkaloids, mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine, as comparable to heroin in mice when administered intravenously. Given Kratom's recent emergence in t

SUBMITTER: Smith LC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6662923 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature