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Effects of Chronic Exposure to Crack Cocaine on the Respiratory Tract of Mice

¹ Laboratory of Air Pollution (LIM 05), Department of Pathology, São Paulo University Medical School, São Paulo, SP, Brazil
² Medical and Health School, Marília University, SP, Brazil
³ Department of Pathology, Marília Medical School, SP, Brazil
⁴ Department of Clinical and Toxicological Analyses, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of São Paulo, SP, Brazil

Correspondence: Thais Mauad MD, PhD, Department of Pathology, São Paulo University Medical School, Av Dr Arnaldo 455 room 1155, 01246-903 São Paulo SP Brazil; E-mail:tmauad{at}usp.br.

Smoked cocaine (crack cocaine) causes several forms of injury to the respiratory tract, including asthma exacerbations, lung edema and hemorrhage, and nasal mucosal alterations. Few studies, however, have assessed respiratory tract pathology in habitual users of crack cocaine. Here, we describe the histological alterations in the respiratory tract of mice caused by chronic inhalation of crack cocaine. Twenty 2-month-old BALB/c mice were exposed to the smoke of 5 g crack cocaine in an inhalation chamber once a day for two months and compared to controls (n = 10). We then morphometrically analyzed nose and bronchiolar epithelial alterations, bronchiolar and alveolar macrophage cell density, alveolar hemosiderin content, and in addition determined the vasoconstriction index and the wall thickness of pulmonary arteries. The serum cocaine level was 212.5 ng/mL after a single inhalation. The mucus content of the nasal epithelium increased in crack-exposed animals, and the nasal and bronchial epithelium thickness decreased significantly. The alveolar hemosiderin content and the alveolar and bronchiolar macrophage cell density increased in animals exposed to crack. The vasoconstriction index increased in the pulmonary arteries of the exposed group. Chronic crack cocaine inhalation causes extensive histological changes along the entire respiratory tract.

Key Words: crack cocaine • lung • macrophages • mouse • nose • epithelium • airway

Abbreviations: BSA, bovine serum albumin • GC-MS, gas chromatography-mass spectrometry • PAS/AB, Schiff’s periodic acid and Alcian blue

Toxicologic Pathology, Vol. 37, No. 3, 324-332 (2009)
DOI: 10.1177/0192623308330790


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