Sceletium tortuosum is an indigenous South African succulent. The KhoiSan of Southern Africa used fermented S. tortuosum preparations to induce psychoactive effects over the past 300 years. Sceletium contains alkaloids such as mesembrine, mesembrenal, mesembranol and mesembrenone responsible for the psychoactive properties, of which mesembrine is regarded as the most potent. It is claimed that the traditional fermentation process changes the alkaloid composition, thereby increasing the potency of the psychoactive response. In this study, ultra performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry was used to quantify the content of alkaloids prior to and after fermentation of samples of Sceletium tortuosum. The results revealed that although the mesembrenol and mesembranol content changed marginally during fermentation, the mesembrine content increased significantly from not detected - 1.6 μg/mL to 7.40 - 20.8 μg/mL. A corresponding decrease in the mesembrenone content was observed after fermentation from 8.00 – 33.0 μg/mL to 1.30 – 32.7 μg/mL. The total alkaloid content increased as a result of fermentation. This study confirmed that the fermented method increased the content of the psychoactive molecule, mesembrine during the traditional method of preparation [1].
Reference
[1] Smith T, Crouch R, Gericke N, Hirst, M. J Ethnopharmacol 1996; 50: 119-130.