Abstract
Preterm parturition is often preceded by systemic infection and cytokines are recognized as the principle mediators of a variety of immunologic and pathophysiologic events in infection. The study was designed to examine whether cocaine affects synthesis and secretion of cytokines. Among the cytokines, tumor necrosis factor (TNFα) and Interleukines (IL-1β and IL-6) were chosen because of their presumptive role in infection. For in vitro study, blood was obtained from mothers who were drug free (control); lymphocytes were isolated and stimulated with lipopolysacchrides. The synthesis of TNFα, IL-1β and IL-6 was examined in the presence of 2.1µM of cocaine. The data show that cocaine stimulated TNFα synthesis (p<0.01) but had no effect on IL-1β and IL-6 synthesis. For in ex vivo study, cytokine levels were measured in fetal cord blood in cocaine users. The data were similar to that found in vitro study. In cocaine users, cortisol blood level increased significantly in the fetal cord blood (p<0.01) but not in the mother, however, in mothers with known infection (positive control), blood cortisol level increased significantly without similar effect in the fetus. The babies born to cocaine users were significantly of low birth weights (p<0.05) the incidence of pre -rupture of membranes (PPROM) increased significantly (p<0.001) in cocaine users. The data show that cocaine selectively increased TNFα synthesis and secretion. Higher cortisol level in the fetal cord blood suggests that in cocaine users fetus is more susceptible to infection than the mother.
Highlights
It is estimated that 50 million people in the United States use cocaine on a regular basis and almost one million are women ranging in age from 18- 34 years (Das, 1994., Rizk et al, 1996,.)
Phosphate buffered saline (PBS) RPMI 1640 medium (Whiteaker Biomedical Products, Whitaker, CA), Hank’ balanced salt solution, glutamine, HEPES, and the antibiotics penicillin and streptomycin were purchased from Gibco; LPS (Escherichia coli 26:B6) and dexamethasone were purchased from Sigma Chemical (St.Louis, MO) and cocaine was obtained from National Institute of Drug Abuse
When cocaine was added in the media together with LPS there was further increase in the level of TNFα by at least two and one half folds suggesting that cocaine caused increase in TNFα synthesis (p
Summary
It is estimated that 50 million people in the United States use cocaine on a regular basis and almost one million are women ranging in age from 18- 34 years (Das, 1994., Rizk et al, 1996,.). Animal data show that after in vivo administration of cocaine there was a decrease in lymphoid organ weights and the number of lymphocyte derived from these organs (Bagasra and Forman., 1989). Is associated with immune alterations in a wide variety of lymphocytes including natural killer cells (NK cells), helper T (Medina, et al, 1993) Pregnancy is accompanied by specific changes in the lymphoid tissue suggesting that pregnant animals are more susceptibility to the affects of cocaine and thereby to the developing fetus (Ou et al, 1989:Clark., et al 1994). Animal and human data clearly suggest that cocaine affects immune system (Watzel et al, 1992: Pacifica et al, 1993). We report in vitro and ex vivo effects of cocaine on www.ccsenet.org/gjhs
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