Incidence of Mitragynine from urine sample at NDCC Bangkok

Abstract

Mitragynine is one of the main alkaloids found in leaves of Mitragyna speciosa Korth (Thai name "Kratom"), a tropical medicinal plant in Southeast Asia. Kratom is illegal as a drug of abuse because of its stimulating and narcotic effect, but increasingly found misused as a recreational drug, especially in the southern region of Thailand and the northern states of Malaysia. These drugs are widespread used and easily purchased. In contrast to many EU countries such as Denmark or Sweden, mitragynine and its derivative 7-hydroxymitragynine are psychoactive substances with legality. In the U.S., kratom is on "drug of concern" list. Since 2014, WADA has included mitragynine in its list of in-competition monitoring substances, due to potential misuse in sports. At NDCC Bangkok, in previous analysis, we found mitragynine in athletes urine. Mitragynine desmethyl ester has been observed as the main metabolite of mitragynine and identified by comparison with pure compound by GC/MS. Currently we are cooperating with WADA as volunteer laboratory. From our routine screening, mitragynine and mitragynine desmethyl ester were detected in 11 samples from 1,400 urine samples in various sport disciplines using LC-MS/MS.