Cargando…

Cardiac Fas-Dependent and Mitochondria-Dependent Apoptosis after Chronic Cocaine Abuse

To evaluate whether chronic cocaine abuse will increase cardiac Fas-dependent and mitochondria-dependent apoptotic pathways, thirty-two male Wistar rats at 3–4 months of age were randomly divided into a vehicle-treated group (phosphate-buffered saline, PBS, 0.5 mL, SQ per day) and a cocaine-treated...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Liou, Cher-Ming, Tsai, Shiow-Chwen, Kuo, Chia-Hua, Ting, Hua, Lee, Shin-Da
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI) 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4013609/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24722570
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms15045988
Descripción
Sumario:To evaluate whether chronic cocaine abuse will increase cardiac Fas-dependent and mitochondria-dependent apoptotic pathways, thirty-two male Wistar rats at 3–4 months of age were randomly divided into a vehicle-treated group (phosphate-buffered saline, PBS, 0.5 mL, SQ per day) and a cocaine-treated group (Cocaine, 10 mg/kg, SQ per day). After 3 months of treatment, the excised left ventricles were measured by H&E staining, Western blotting, DAPI staining and TUNEL assays. More cardiac TUNEL-positive apoptotic cells were observed in the Cocaine group than the PBS group. Protein levels of TNF-alpha, Fas ligand, Fas death receptor, FADD, activated caspase-8, and activated caspase-3 (Fas-dependent apoptosis) extracted from excised hearts in the Cocaine group were significantly increased, compared to the PBS group. Protein levels of cardiac Bax, cytosolic cytochrome c, t-Bid-to-Bid, Bak-to-Bcl-xL, Bax-to-Bcl-2 ratio, activated caspase-9, and activated caspase-3 (mitochondria-dependent apoptosis) were significantly increased in the Cocaine group, compared to the PBS group. Chronic cocaine exposure appeared to activate the cardiac Fas-dependent and mitochondria-dependent apoptosis, which may indicate a possible mechanism for the development of cardiac abnormalities in humans with chronic cocaine abuse.