Ml. Shen et al., IMMUNOMODULATING ACTIVITIES OF COCAINE - EVALUATION OF LYMPHOCYTE-TRANSFORMATION RELATED TO OTHER IMMUNE FUNCTIONS, International journal of immunopharmacology, 16(4), 1994, pp. 311-319
Cocaine dosages ranging from 2.5 mg/kg/day to a highly toxic dose of 5
0 mg/kg/day were injected intramuscularly or intraperitoneally into di
fferent groups of mice for 4-10 days. The effects of cocaine were eval
uated by tumor growth, lymphocyte transformation, phagocytosis, and Ig
M plaque-forming cells. At all dosages, including toxic doses, cocaine
does not inhibit lymphocyte transformation of the splenic or the peri
pheral blood lymphocytes. However, all other immunological parameters
of the same animal were suppressed. These results suggest that lymphoc
yte transformation may not be a proper indicator for the immune status
of mice treated with cocaine. The same may be true when testing human
drug abusers.