Abdulwaheb Mohammedbirhan, Makonnen Eyasu, Debella Asfaw, Abebe Dawit
Department of Pharmacology, Faculty of Medicine, Addis Ababa University, P.O. Box 9086, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
J Ethnopharmacol. 2007 Mar 21;110(2):250-6. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2006.09.019. Epub 2006 Sep 26.
Khat chewing is a widespread habit that has a deep-rooted socio-cultural tradition in East Africa and in the Middle East. Although a number of investigations have been carried out using cathinone, the psychoactive component of khat, these may not wholly reflect the behavioral effects observed after administering khat in a dosage similar to those used traditionally. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of sub-chronically administered khat extract with or without alcohol on sexual behavior in male rats. Adult albino wistar male rats were administered either with khat extracts (100, 200, 400mg/kg), amphetamine (1mg/kg), sildenafil (1mg/kg), ethanol (2ml/kg of 2% and 10%), or a combination of khat and ethanol (2%+10%) by intragastric gavage orally for 15 days. Khat (400mg/kg) treated rats demonstrated a statistically significant increase in all sexual parameters except in mounting frequency, intercopulatory interval and copulatory efficiency. Whereas, khat (200mg/kg) treated rats showed a statistically significant increase only in ejaculation latency (P<0.01). In marked contrast, low dose (100mg/kg) of khat extract was found to significantly reduce both mount latency (P<0.05) and intromission latency P<0.01) thereby enhancing sexual motivation/arousal in male rats. Similar results were obtained when khat extract (200mg/kg) and ethanol (10%) were administered concomitantly despite the inhibitory effect observed in male sexual behavior when administered alone. From the present study it can be concluded that higher doses of the extract inhibit sexual behavior in male rats. In contrast, low dose of the extract as well as the concurrent administration of the extract followed by ethanol was found to enhance male rat sexual motivation/arousal.
咀嚼巧茶是一种广泛存在的习惯，在东非和中东地区有着根深蒂固的社会文化传统。尽管已经对巧茶的精神活性成分卡西酮进行了多项研究，但这些研究可能无法完全反映以传统使用剂量服用巧茶后所观察到的行为影响。本研究的目的是评估亚慢性给予巧茶提取物（含或不含酒精）对雄性大鼠性行为的影响。成年白化Wistar雄性大鼠通过灌胃法口服给予巧茶提取物（100、200、400mg/kg）、苯丙胺（1mg/kg）、西地那非（1mg/kg）、乙醇（2ml/kg的2%和10%），或巧茶与乙醇的组合（2%+10%），持续15天。接受巧茶（400mg/kg）治疗的大鼠除了在爬跨频率、交配间隔和交配效率方面外，所有性行为参数均有统计学显著增加。而接受巧茶（200mg/kg）治疗的大鼠仅射精潜伏期有统计学显著增加（P<0.01）。与之形成鲜明对比的是，低剂量（100mg/kg）的巧茶提取物被发现可显著缩短爬跨潜伏期（P<0.05）和插入潜伏期（P<0.01），从而增强雄性大鼠的性动机/性唤起。当同时给予巧茶提取物（200mg/kg）和乙醇（10%）时，尽管单独给予乙醇时对雄性性行为有抑制作用，但仍获得了类似结果。从本研究可以得出结论，较高剂量的提取物会抑制雄性大鼠的性行为。相比之下，低剂量的提取物以及提取物后接着给予乙醇的联合给药方式被发现可增强雄性大鼠的性动机/性唤起。
