The review lists natural sources, i.e. strains and species of fungi producing predominantly psychoactive tryptamines (indolealkylamines), their chemical structure and properties, toxic effects on the man and psychic symptoms of intoxication. It describes the biosynthesis and production of some tryptamines by the mycelial culture of Psilocybe bohemica Sebek, a survey of methods for their analysis and isolation. It evaluates the worldwide use and abuse of psychoactive fungi as sources of drugs in general and in the Czechia in particular during the last two and a half decades.
Results and DiscussionThe composition of the extraction agent has a fundamental influence on the yield of extraction. For testing we used aqueous solutions of methanol and ethanol, in which the tested substances are soluble (2). The dependence of psilocybin and psilocin yield on the alcohol concentration (pure or in presence of potassium nitrate) is illustrated in Fig. 1. It follows from this that an optimal extraction agent for psilocybin is quite unsuitable for psilocin.
327Since 1958, when psilocybin was discovered as an active principle of hallucinogenic mushrooms of the genus Psilocybe (1), many papers have been published about the determination of psychotropic indole derivatives.High-performance liquid chromatography is now almost exclusively used for the quantitative determination of these substances (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7).A key step in the analytical procedure is the extraction of the compounds from the biological material. However, meagre attention has been paid to the extraction procedure. Hofmann et al. (2) found that psilocybin and psilocin are well soluble in methanol, and have subsequently used solely methanol for extraction. Other authors then used this solvent with or without modifications (4,6, 7, 9,10, 11,12, 13).Psilocybin and psilocin were found in concentrations up to 1.0% and 0-0.16%, respectively, in fruit bodies of Psilocybe bohemica Sebek extracted with methanol.In this work we optimized the extraction conditions for psilocybin and psilocin from fruit bodies of Psilocybe mushrooms and studied the influence of extraction agent composition, its quantity and extraction time on the yield of these compounds. High-performance liquid chromatographic method was used for quantification of psilocybin and psilocin.
Materials and Methods ExtractionThe dried fruit bodies of mushroom Psilocybe bohemica were cut and then perfectly homogenized in a glass mortar. The extraction was performed in 20 ml vials at a constant sample weight of 10mg. It was carried out on a reciprocal shaker with a 15mm amplitude and a frequency of 1.2 Hz. The crude extract was filtered through 1 mm PTFE filter before injection into the HPLC apparatus.
HPLC analysisChromatographic analysis was performed on LC-3B liquid chromatograph (Perkin-Elmer, USA). Column (250 x 4mm ID.) was packed with Silasorb SPH C18 7.5 m (Lachema, Czechoslovakia). Mobile phase consists of methanol, water and acetic acid 10 : 90: 1 (for psilocybin), or 35 : 65: 1 (for psilocin). A spectrophotometric and electrochemical detection was used for quantification of both substances (14). % of alcohol Fig. 1 Dependence of the determined amount of psilocybin and psilocin on the composition of the extracting agent (• methanol/water/saturated KNO3; O methanol/water; A ethanol/water).We assume that the satisfactory values with methanol obtained by spiking (9) can be attributed to the extracellular supply of the spiked substances whereas in real samples they are intracellular.A statistically significant dependence of the extraction yield on the amount of solvent was not ...
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.