Abstract

The khat plant has been culturally used in many parts of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula for many years to induce psycho-stimulating effect. Because of the global wide-spreading nature, khat chewing is being considered as a universally growing problem. Catha abbottii, Catha edulis, and Catha transvaalensis are the three species of khat commonly chewed in Saudi Arabia and nearby regions. Khat users usually prefer to chew young leaves over mature ones due to the diverse effects produced by both. Though many of the constituents of khat leaves have been identified, the complete phytochemical profile of young and mature leaves was not performed or compared; also, no evidence is available to affirm the cytotoxicity of young or mature leaves. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate the phytochemical basis of the differential response of the young and mature leaves and to assess the cytotoxicity of young and mature khat leaves. Ethanolic extracts of young and mature leaves of three khat cultivars were subjected to GC-MS. Hierarchical cluster analysis revealed the existence of two major clusters. The extracts of young leaves were found to contain the maximum content of cathinone; however, methoxyamphetamine was found in only one extract of young leaves. Cytotoxicity investigations were also conducted on both types of leaves using three cancer cell lines, human breast adenocarcinoma, human ovary adenocarcinoma, and human colon adenocarcinoma and also normal human fetal lung fibroblast cell line was used. All extracts showed comparable cytotoxicity, IC50 ranging from 22–59 μg/mL on the cancer cells; however, we observed more cytotoxicity against normal cells (IC50: 6–41 μg/mL). The predominant cytotoxicity on normal cells may pose many health hazards to khat consumers.

Highlights

  • Khat (Catha edulis) has culturally been used in many parts of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, including Saudi Arabia and Yemen, but it is believed to be a globally growing problem [1,2,3]

  • Young leaves and mature leaves of three cultivars of khat (Catha edulis) locally known as Gaifi, Kofat, and Gahasha were collected from the Jazan region of Saudi Arabia and divided into two groups each: young Gaifi (N1), young Kofat (N2), and young Gahasha (N3) for young leaves and mature Gaifi (G1), mature Kofat (G2), and mature Gahasha (G3) for mature leaves

  • Separation and identification of different phytoconstituents present in the closely related genus in mature and young leaves was analyzed by GC-MS

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Summary

Introduction

Khat (Catha edulis) has culturally been used in many parts of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula, including Saudi Arabia and Yemen, but it is believed to be a globally growing problem [1,2,3]. E differential patterns of memory deficits may reflect the differences in dose effect as well as time-dependent impairment [11]. Cathinone caused the proliferation of gonadotrophs but decreased the lactotrophs and corticotrophs in anterior pituitary sections of animals in high dose and long-term exposure, while an effect of low dose on these cells was insignificant [12]. Few articles contribute to death among khat chewers to khat-induced heart failure, but several other studies have demonstrated that khat chewing has unfavorable cardiovascular effects [13]. The reflection of undesired actions of cathinone on the myocardium is observed through variations in heart rate, blood pressure, and vascular actions [14]. Further studies are needed to address the risk factors in khat chewers that may explain khat-induced cardiotoxicity, cardiomyopathy, and heart failure

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