Effect of khat on the metabolism of erythrocytes.

ABSTRACT

The plant khat "Catha Edulis Forsk" is widely distributed among most East African countries, Yemen and many other areas of the world. Administration of khat extract by the intragastric route in rabbits affected the metabolism of erythrocytes. There is a significant decrease in pyruvate kinase and the level of reduced glutathione (P less than 0.001), and a highly significant increase in both glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase and glutathione reductase activities (P less than 0.001) in khat-fed rabbits as compared to controls. On the other hand the activity of uridyl transferase as well as the concentration of 2,3-diphosphoglycerate were not significantly changed in experimental khat-fed rabbits (P greater than 0.5).