The effect of the alkaloid (-)cathinone on the motor activity in mice.
Khat leaves, widely used as a stimulant in East Africa and the Arab Peninsula, contain the alkaloid, (-)cathinone. This substance was found to cause in mice an increase of locomotor activity characterized by a dose-effect relationship typical for amphetamine. Furthermore, the effect of (-)cathinone was inhibited by pretreatment of the animals with the neuroleptics haloperidol, spiroperidol, pimozide, flupentixol and butaclamol. Pretreatment with reserpine reduced the effect of (-)cathinone moderately; in reserpinized mice the effect of (-)cathinone was antagonized by the uptake inhibitors mazindol and nomifensine. Together, these observations indicate that the pharmacology of (-)cathinone hypermotility closely parallels that of amphetamine hypermotility. The results suggest that the stimulating properties of khat leaves are due to the presence of an alkaloid with amphetamine-like effects.
D000470:Alkaloids / Q000494:pharmacology*; D000818:Animals; D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004347:Drug Interactions; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D009043:Motor Activity / Q000187:drug effects*; D012110:Reserpine / Q000494:pharmacology
D000470:Alkaloids; C023665:cathinone; D012110:Reserpine