Screening of Hallucinogenic Compounds and Genomic Characterisation of 40 Anatolian Salvia Species

Introduction: Salvia, an important and widely available member of Lamiaceae family. Although comparative analysis on secondary metabolites in several Salvia species from Turkey has been reported, their hallucinogenic chemicals have not been screened thoroughly. Objective: This study provides LC–MS/MS analysis of 40 Salvia species for screening their psychoactive constituents of salvinorin A and salvinorin B. 5S–rRNA gene non-coding region of Salvia plants was sequenced, aligned and compared with that sequence of Salvia divinorum plant. Methodology: Targeted molecules of salvinorin A and salvinorin B were quantified, using LC–MS/MS, from all aerial parts of 40 Salvia species, collected from different parts of Turkey. Regions of 5S–rRNA gene from different species were amplified by polymerase chain reaction and DNA sequences were aligned with Salvia divinorum DNA sequences. Results: Very few of the Salvia species (S. recognita, S. cryptantha and S. glutinosa) contained relatively high levels of salvinorin A (212.86 ± 20.46 μg/g, 51.50 ± 4.95 μg/g and 38.92 ± 3.74 μg/g, respectively). Salvinorin B was also found in Salvia species of S. potentillifolia, S. adenocaulon and S. cryptantha as 2351.99 ± 232.22 μg/g, 768.78 ± 75.90 μg/g and 402.24 ± 39.71 μg/g, respectively. The sequences of 5S–rRNA gene of 40 different Salvia species were presented and it was found that none of the Salvia species in Turkey had similar DNA sequence to Salvia divinorum plant. Conclusion: This is the first report of screening 40 Salvia species in Turkey according to their psychoactive constituents, salvinorin A and salvinorin B and their genomic structures. It is possible that some of these Salvia species may exhibit some psycho activity. Thus, they need to be screened further.