کد مقاله کد نشریه سال انتشار مقاله انگلیسی نسخه تمام متن
2566572 1128086 2008 20 صفحه PDF دانلود رایگان
عنوان انگلیسی مقاله ISI
A review of the neuropharmacological properties of khat
موضوعات مرتبط
علوم زیستی و بیوفناوری علم عصب شناسی روانپزشکی بیولوژیکی
پیش نمایش صفحه اول مقاله
A review of the neuropharmacological properties of khat
چکیده انگلیسی

BackgroundThe psychostimulant khat (Catha edulis Forsk), is a herbal drug cultivated and chewed as a recreational and socializing drug in East Africa and the Arabian Peninsula for centuries. Due to increasing air transportation and the loosening of customs restrictions, it is now readily available in the Western Countries mainly used by immigrants from khat growing areas causing a concern to policy-makers.ObjectiveWe conducted this review to further gain an insight to the neuropharmacological effects of khat.MethodologyPubMed search engine with key terms ‘khat’ or ‘qat’ or ‘mirra’ or’qaad/jaad’ or ‘cathinone’ was used to obtain articles relevant to khat chewing. In total 284 English written articles published from 1959 to 2007 were screened.ResultsMost of the studies focused on cathinone, the postulated active psychostimulant alkaloid in khat. There were few studies which investigated the entire plant extract in either in vitro or animal studies. In the majority of the studies it was reported that both cathinone and cathine, another psychoactive constituent, have actions that are similar to those of amphetamine.ConclusionsIt seems that the well investigated khat alkaloids have many features similar to amphetamines; however there is a need for a more thorough examination of khat itself in well designed in vitro, animal and human studies with a range of comparator drugs before confirming the claim that khat is a “natural amphetamine”.

ناشر
Database: Elsevier - ScienceDirect (ساینس دایرکت)
Journal: Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry - Volume 32, Issue 5, 1 July 2008, Pages 1147–1166
نویسندگان
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