Recent advances in khat research

Khat leaves are widely used as a stimulant in East Africa andthe Arabian Peninsula and the effect of the material was formerlybelieved to be due to its content of norpseudoephed-rine. Recently,however, a new alkaloid, cathinone, has been discovered in khat,and this substance was found to be a potent compound with apharmacological profile closely resembling that of amphetamine.It was also found that cathinone has the same mechanism of actionas amphetamine, i.e. that it causes release at physiologicalcatecholamine storage sites. The present report summarizes thepharmacology of cathinone and shows that this alkaloid mustbe considered to be the main active constituent of khat.