Crosstalk: Stimulants Immune system
Cocaine and heroine activate the inflammatory response, including the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines like TNF-α. Cocaine induces suppression of thymus dependent T-lymphocyte response as well as increases IFN-γ production. The stimulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines without a parallel stimulation of innate immune cell function (such as phagocytosis) can exacerbate inflammatory diseases and it could increase the susceptibility to infections.
Amphetamines influence the immune functions as a potent immunosuppressor. Several investigations indicate that amphetamines and its derivatives cause a decrease in leukocyte and lymphocyte (particularly T helper lymphocyte) numbers in the peripheral blood. In addition, amphetamines were found to suppress cytokine and antibody production, lymphoproliferative response, as well as to decrease natural killer cells cytotoxicity (NKCC) and the induction of cytotoxic T lymphocytes. In addition, amphetamines decrease in vitro and in vivo phagocytosis. The immunosuppressive effects of amphetamines however are not standardized. Some authors reported a possible stimulation of the immune system responses. It was demonstrated that amphetamines can lead to an increase in NKCC and the number of large granular lymphocytes identified with NK cells. Nevertheless, the precise mechanism of amphetamine-immune interactions is still not fully understood, above all with respect to biomedical side effects. In fact, stimulants also affect the neuroendocrine system which is linked to the immune system. Alterations in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis would also affect the immune response, because many changes on the immune response are mediated by catecholamines and glucocorticoids.
kilde:
http://www.doping-prevention.sp.tum.de/ ... ystem.htmlResearch conducted over the last number of years has clearly demonstrated that the administration of MDMA to both animals and humans has profound immunosuppressive effects, a property that it shares with other drugs of abuse.1–6 For the most part, the immunosuppressive effects of MDMA are not attributed to a direct action of the drug on immune cells, but rather to the release of endogenous immunomodulatory substances, and it is suggested that exposure to MDMA could be regarded as a ‘chemical stressor’ on the immune system. Further studies are required in order to elucidate the central and peripheral mediators of MDMA-induced immunosuppression. In addition, assessment of the effect of MDMA in preclinical host resistance models, and further clinical research, is required before any definitive statement can be made on the propensity of MDMA-induced immunosuppression to translate into increased disease susceptibility.
kilde:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1782451/så vidt jeg kan lige hurtigt kan læse har mdma, amf og coke en ret negativ virkning på ens imunforsvar.
hvis dit imunforsvar er så dårligt at det skal have hjælp i form af pennicilin 7 gange om året tror jeg du ville gøre dig selv en tjeneste ved hvafald at skære lidt ned i dit forbrug
