Gramine

Gramine (also called donaxine) is a naturally occurring indole alkaloid present in several plant species. Gramine may play a defensive role in these plants, since it is toxic to many organisms.

Occurrence

Gramine has been found in the giant reed, Arundo donax, Acer saccharinum (Silver Maple), Hordeum, (a grass genus that includes barley) and Phalaris (another grass genus).

Effects and toxicity

Gramine is a close analogue of the psychedelic drug dimethyltryptamine (DMT), but its side chain has one less carbon atom in comparison. In contrast to DMT, gramine does not have significant psychedelic-like behavioral effects in animals. The same is true of 5-methoxygramine (5-MeO-gramine), which failed to substitute for DOM in rodent drug discrimination tests.

Gramine has been found to act as an agonist of the adiponectin receptor 1 (AdipoR1).

The LD50 of gramine is 44.6 mg/ kg iv in mice and 62.9 mg/ kg iv in rats. Numerous studies have been done on the toxicity of gramine and tryptamines to insects harmful to crops in order to assess their potential use as an insecticide.

Recent toxicity evaluations show Gramine to be relatively low toxicity in humans, and to have anti-mutagenic and potential neuroprotective action, as a widely found alkaloid present in Oats and Barley. There are numerous recent studies on the potential health benefits of Gramine.

See also

• Dimethyltryptamine (DMT)