cytochrome-c-t and Substance-Related-Disorders

Drugs of abuse induce the release of dopamine in the central nervous system, particularly in the mesolimbic-mesocortical pathway. As dopamine may act as a neurotoxin, in this study, we analyzed the effects of the drugs of abuse, cocaine, heroin, and amphetamine, on the neurodegeneration of PC12 cells, a dopaminergic cell line, by evaluating the activity of caspase-3 and mitochondrial cytochrome c release. All the drugs were shown to induce caspase-3 activation, similarly to staurosporine, a classical inducer of apoptotic cell death. Furthermore, like staurosporine, the drugs of abuse induced a decrease in mitochondrial cytochrome c content, suggesting the involvement of the mitochondrial apoptotic pathway.

Topics: Amphetamine; Animals; Apoptosis; Caspase 3; Caspases; Cell Differentiation; Cocaine; Cytochromes c; Heroin; Mitochondria; PC12 Cells; Rats; Substance-Related Disorders