Akuammine (vincamajoridine) is an

indole alkaloid Indole alkaloids are a class of alkaloids containing a structural moiety of indole; many indole alkaloids also include isoprene groups and are thus called terpene indole or secologanin tryptamine alkaloids. Containing more than 4100 known differe ...

. It is the most abundant alkaloid found in the seeds from the tree ''

Picralima nitida ''Picralima'' is a plant genus in the family Apocynaceae, first described as a genus in 1896. It contains only one known species, ''Picralima nitida'', native to tropical Africa (Benin, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Gabon, Cameroon, Cabinda, Cent ...

'', commonly known as akuamma, comprising 0.56% of the dried powder. It has also been isolated from ''

Vinca major ''Vinca major'', with the common names bigleaf periwinkle, large periwinkle, greater periwinkle and blue periwinkle, is a species of flowering plant in the family Apocynaceae, native to the western Mediterranean. Growing to tall and spreading i ...

''. Akuammine is structurally related to

yohimbine Yohimbine (), also known as quebrachine, is an indole alkaloid derived from the bark of the African tree ''Pausinystalia johimbe''; also from the bark of the unrelated South American tree ''Aspidosperma quebracho-blanco''. Yohimbine is an α2- ...

mitragynine Mitragynine is an indole-based alkaloid and the most abundant active alkaloid in the Southeast Asian plant ''Mitragyna speciosa'', commonly known as '' kratom.'' The total alkaloid concentration in dried leaves ranges from 0.5 to 1.5%. In Thai va ...

and more distantly

Voacangine Voacangine (12-methoxyibogamine-18-carboxylic acid methyl ester) is an alkaloid found predominantly in the root bark of the ''Voacanga africana'' tree, as well as in other plants such as ''Tabernanthe iboga'', ''Tabernaemontana africana'', ''Trach ...

, all of which are alkaloid plant products with pharmacological properties.

Pharmacology

Akuammine has

antimalarial Antimalarial medications or simply antimalarials are a type of antiparasitic chemical agent, often naturally derived, that can be used to treat or to prevent malaria, in the latter case, most often aiming at two susceptible target groups, young c ...

activity, and may be the primary constituent of ''P. nitida'' seeds responsible for this activity. Akuammine is an

opioid antagonist An opioid antagonist, or opioid receptor antagonist, is a receptor antagonist that acts on one or more of the opioid receptors. Naloxone and naltrexone are commonly used opioid antagonist drugs which are competitive antagonists that bind to the o ...

with low affinity, selective for the mu-opioid receptor, when tested ''

in vitro ''In vitro'' (meaning in glass, or ''in the glass'') studies are performed with microorganisms, cells, or biological molecules outside their normal biological context. Colloquially called "test-tube experiments", these studies in biology an ...

''.

References

{{Opioidergics Tryptamine alkaloids Alkaloids found in Apocynaceae Phenols Carbazoles Carboxylate esters Methyl esters Mu-opioid receptor antagonists