Cocaine immunologic

Acute hepatitis induced by intranasal cocaine, with transient increases in liver enzymes, has been reported in three HIV-positive patients (202). All had non-active chronic viral hepatitis with normal immunological status one was seropositive for hepatitis B virus and two were positive for hepatitis C virus. A few days after intranasal cocaine use, serum transaminases rose to high values, and two of the patients had fever, stiffness, sweats, and hepatomegaly. Alcohol and hepatotoxic agents were ruled out. Within a few days, the clinical and laboratory signs of hepatitis improved in all three cases. 

A healthy 31-year-old man developed acute renal insufficiency 18 hours after inhaling cocaine 5 g. His blood pressure was 150/100 mmHg, his serum creatinine 177 pmol/l, creatine phosphokinase activity 107 U/l, and serum potassium concentration 3.8 mmol/1. The urinary sodium concentration was 30 mmol/1 and there was a trace of protein and 1-2 red blood cells per high-power field. Immunological studies were unremarkable. Ultrasound showed kidneys of normal size with hyperechogenity of the right kidney. Over the next 10 days he recovered spontaneously. 

Delafuente JC, DeVane CL. Immunologic effects of cocaine and related alkaloids. Immunopharmacol Immuno toxicol 1991 13(l-2) ll-23. 

Because it is obvious that primarily the parent drug and lipophilic metabolites are found in hair, some lA are rather specific for single substances of a drug class, e.g., RIA for cocaine (Table 2) or 6-MAM. In both cases, the substance with the highest cross reactivity to the antibody is identical with the main compound excreted into hair after drug consumption. Quantitative immunological results correlate with GC/MS. In the case of the DPC-Kit for free morphine (Table 3), there are good correlations with sensitivity and results of GC/MS and/or HPLC-ECD confirmation. ... 

The prevalence of infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) among drug abusers, including cocaine users, is increasing (164). Two separate reports have suggested that cocaine may compromise immunological function. In one study, human mononuclear cells were stimulated in vitro with mitogens in the presence and absence of cocaine cocaine inhibited the proliferation of the mononuclear cells (165). In a second study, cocaine... 

Typical antibody-catalyzed reaction rates are several hundredfold to 100,000-fold faster than the uncatalyzed reaction of the substrate. Several fundamental postulates have been proposed to explain the rate enhancements that nevertheless fall short of the enormous rate accelerations of enzymes. Is activity truly due solely to transition state stabilization by antibody-binding interactions Can additional binding interactions be built into the combining site or into the substrate molecule itself to increase the overall rate of the reaction Can new screening methods and immunological methods be developed to uncover novel catalysts with diverse activities Most important, can novel esterolytic catalysts be developed based on currently available catalytic antibody technology to efficiently hydrolyze and detoxicate cocaine ... 

Both immunological and chromatographic methods are available for the determination of cocaine consumption by urine analysis. Table 8-21 gives an overview of the cut-off values of current immunological tests for benzoylecgonine. Methylecgonine also shows appreciable cross-reactivity with the antibodies in some immunological cocaine tests. The reaction behavior towards cocaine itself is less favorable in most tests. 

THC was also tested for in all the samples by an immunological method. However, the result was negative. Cocaine was identified in the SIM mode by its characteristic masses 82, 182, and 303. 

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