Department of Forensic Medicine and Toxicology, University of Athens, Medical School, Mikras Asias str., Athens 115.27, Greece.
Addict Biol. 1999 Oct;4(4):449-52. doi: 10.1080/13556219971443.
Cells of the ciliated protozoon Tetrahymena pyriformis strain W, grown in a peptone-yeast medium, usually contain many phagocytic vacuoles. The phagocytic activity of this protozoon was studied in vivo using heat-inactivated yeast stained with carmine after exposing the cultures for 1 hour to different doses of cocaine hydrochloride or cocaine freebase (crack) (0.5, 1 or 2 mg/100 ml of protozoan culture).The number of vacuoles formed indicated the phagocytic activity. Cocaine hydrochloride and crack caused a decrease of the phagocytic activity of the protozoon (p < 0.05) when compared to the control cultures. Furthermore, the two chemical forms of cocaine, salt and free-base respectively, caused quantitatively different effects on the phagocytic activity. Crack produced an extensive decrease in phagocytosis, compared to equal concentrations of cocaine hydrochloride. These results suggest a possible relationship between cocaine abuse and the suppression of phagocytosis that may contribute to the impairment of immunity in drug misusers.
在含有蛋白胨和酵母的培养液中生长的梨形四膜虫细胞通常含有许多吞噬泡。本研究采用体内染色法观察可卡因盐酸盐或可卡因游离碱（“快克”）对四膜虫吞噬作用的影响。将培养 1 小时的细胞分别暴露于不同剂量的可卡因盐酸盐或可卡因游离碱（0.5、1 或 2mg/100ml 培养液）中，然后用加热灭活的、被胭脂红染色的酵母进行处理。用形成的空泡数表示吞噬活性。与对照组相比，可卡因盐酸盐和可卡因游离碱均使四膜虫的吞噬活性降低（p＜0.05）。此外，可卡因的两种化学形式（盐和游离碱）对吞噬活性的影响程度不同。与等浓度的可卡因盐酸盐相比，可卡因游离碱可显著降低吞噬作用。这些结果提示可卡因滥用与吞噬作用抑制之间可能存在关联，这可能导致药物滥用者免疫功能受损。
