Catecholamines Cathinone

Kalix P. (1982). The amphetamine-like releasing effect of the alkaloid (-)cathinone on rat nucleus accumbens and rabbit caudate nucleus. Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 6(1) 43-49. Kalix P. (1983). A comparison of the catecholamine releasing effect of the khat alkaloids (-)-cathinone and (+)-norpseudoephedrine. Drug Alcohol Depend. 11(3-4) 395-401. 

The fresh leaves of the khat shrub (Catha edulis) are chewed by several millions of people in East Africa and the Arabian peninsula for their euphoric and stimulating properties (284). The rather newly discovered alkaloid cathinone [(S)-a-aminopropiophenone] is responsible for the stimulating properties of khat (284). It has been shown that cathinone induces release at physiological catecholamine storage sites in a manner similar to that of amphetamine. Further results suggest that cathinone and amphetamine produce their stimulant effects via the same dopaminergic mechanism (599). The more recently discovered khat constituents merucathinone, merucathine, and pseudomerucathine were found to have only weak dopamine-releasing effects and were therefore considered unlikely to play an important role in the stimulatory actions of khat leaves (414). 

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