IMMUNOMODULATING ACTIVITIES OF COCAINE - EVALUATION OF LYMPHOCYTE-TRANSFORMATION RELATED TO OTHER IMMUNE FUNCTIONS

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.