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THE PHYSIOLOGICAL EFFECT OF CHEWING KHAT LEAVES ON HUMAN SPERMATOGENESIS | ||
| IRAQI JOURNAL OF MEDICAL SCIENCES | ||
| Article 1, Volume 6, Issue 1, 2008, Pages 38-44 | ||
| Author | ||
| Nagi Abdul-Wahab Abdulla | ||
| Abstract | ||
| Background: It was estimated that several million people are frequent users of khat, living in countries between South East Africa and Arabian Peninsula. Khat (Catha Edulis Forsk) is described as an evergreen shrub of the species plant family celastraceae. Chewing of khat leaves and ingesting the juices that contain the psychoactive substance, Cathinone, produces sympathomimetic and CNS stimulation. It has deleterious effects on the rate of spermatogenesis, decreasing the sperm count; percentage of sperm motility and increase the number of abnormal sperm forms. Objective: To prove that chewing khat affects the human spermatogenesis and sexual behavior; and to emphasize the cathinone effect on the human spermatogenesis and to explore the sexual behavioral changes due to khat use. Materials and methods: A fifty healthy Yemeni khat chewers aged between 20 to 50 years were randomly selected. A questionnaire survey method was used to investigate their sexual behavior and a routine semen analysis was done. Result: The study showed that 94% of the khat chewers have sperm counts below the normal range while 6% above the normal range; about 72% of the khat chewers have less than 60% active motile sperms and abnormal sperm forms while 28% of the khat chewers have more than 60% active motile sperm and abnormal sperm forms. A correlation was found between the period of khat consumption and an initial decrease in sperm count and the percentage of active motile sperm with subsequent increase in the numbers of abnormal sperms. A strong association was found in chewer’s using high quality of khat and a decrease in sperm counts and the percentage of active motile sperms with increase the numbers of abnormal sperms when compared with low quality of khat. Conclusion: In Yemen, the habit of chewing khat affects human spermatogenesis. Khat chewing affects elderly people more than younger ones and the high quality of khat affects spermatogenesis more than low quality of khat variety due to its higher content of cathinone. | ||
| Keywords | ||
| khat; Catha Edulis; Cathinone; Spermatogenesis | ||
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