Forensic Science International
Volume 153, Issue 1 , Pages 23-28 , 4 October 2005

The role of cocaine in heroin-related deaths: Hypothesis on the interaction between heroin and cocaine

References 

  1. European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addition, Annual Report on the State of Drugs Problem in the European Union and Norway, 2003, http://annualreport.emcdda.eu.int/download/ar2003eu_en.pdf.
  2. Foltin RW, Christiansen I, Levine FR, Fischman MW. Effects of single and multiple intravenous cocaine injection in humans maintained on methadone. J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 1995;275:38–47
  3. Foltin RW, Fischman MW. The cardiovascular and subjective effects of intravenous cocaine and morphine combinations in humans. J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 1992;261:623–632
  4. Preston KL, Sullivan JT, Strain EC, Bigelow GE. Enhacement of cocaine's abuse liability in methadone-maintained patients. Psycopharmacology (Berlin). 1996;123:15–25
  5. Ettenberg A. Opponent process propeties of self-administrated cocaine. Neurosci. Biobehav. Rew. 2004;27:721–728
  6. Montagna M, Groppi A, Polettini A, Crippa O, Maternini P. Gli avvelenamenti letali osservati presso il Laboratorio din Tossicologia Forense di Pavia negli anni 1979–1991. Arch. Med. Leg. Assess. 1992;14:467–490
  7. Montagna M, Groppi A, Polettini A, Stramesi C, Vignali C, Politi L. Gli avvelenamenti letali osservati presso il laboratorio di tossicologia forense di Pavia negli anni 1992–2002. Quaderni Camerti. 2003;XXV:233–251
  8. Kamendulis LM, Brzezinski MR, Pindel EV, Bosron WF, Dean RA. Metabolism of cocaine and heroin is catalyzed by the same human carboxylesterases. J. Pharmacol. Exp. Ther. 1996;279:713–717
  9. Brzezinski MR, Spink BJ, Dean RA, Berkman CE, Cashman JR, Bosron WF. Human liver carboxylesterases h-CE1: binding specificity for cocaine, heroin, and their metabolites and analogs. Etab. Dispos. 1997;25:1089–1096
  10. Pindel EV, Kedishvili NY, Abraham TL, Brzezinski MR, Zhang J, Dean RA, et al. Purification and cloning of a broad substrate specificity human liver carboxylesterases that catalyse the hydrolysis of cocaine and heroin. J. Biol. Chem. 1997;272:14769–14775
  11. Heikkila RE, Orlansky H, Cohen G. Studies on the distinction between uptake inhibitor and release of [3H] dopamine in rat brain tissue slices. Biochem. Pharmacol. 1975;24:847–852
  12. Di Chiara G, North RA. Neurobiology of opiate abuse. Trends Pharmacol. Sci. 1992;13:185–193
  13. Wise RA. Drug-activation of brain reward pathways. Drug Alcohol Depend. 1998;51:13–22
  14. Derlet RW, Tseng CC, Tharratt RS, Albertson TE. The effect of morphine and naloxone on cocaine toxicity. Am. J. Med. Sci. 1992;303:165–169
  15. Jaffe JH. Drug addiction and drug abuse. In:  Goodman Gilman A,  Rall TW,  Nies AS,  Taylor P editor. Goodman and Gilman's: The Pharmacological Basis of Therapeutics. eighth ed.. NY: Mc Graw-Hill International; 1992;p. 542
  16. Polettini A, Groppi A, Vignali C, Montagna M. Fully automated systematic toxicological analysis of drugs, poisons, and metabolites in whole blood, urine and plasma by gas chromatography–full scan mass spectrometry. J. Chromatogr. B Biomed. Appl. 1998;713:265–279
  17. Polettini A, Groppi A, Montagna M. The role of alcohol abuse in the etiology of heroin-related deaths: evidence for pharmacokinetic interactions between heroin and alcohol. J. Anal. Toxicol. 1999;23:570–576
  18. Goldberger BA, Cone EJ, Grant TM, Kaplan YK, Levine BS, Smialek JE. Disposition of heroin and its metabolites in heroin-related deaths. J. Anal. Toxicol. 1994;18:22–28
  19. Dean RA, Christian CD, Sample RHB, Bosron WF. Human liver cocaine esterases: ethanol mediated formation of ethylcocaine. FASEB J. 1991;5:2735–2739
  20. Tseng CC, Derlet RW, Albertson TE. Cocaine induced respiratory depression in urethane-anaesthetized rats: a possible mechanism of cocaine-induced death. Pharmacol. Biochem. Behav. 1991;39:625–633
  21. Kauppilla T, Mecke E, Pertovaara A. Enhancement of morphine-induced analgesia and attenuation of morphine-induced side effects by cocaine in rats. Pharmacol. Toxicol. 1992;71:173–178

PII: S0379-0738(05)00210-0

doi: 10.1016/j.forsciint.2005.04.017

Forensic Science International
Volume 153, Issue 1 , Pages 23-28 , 4 October 2005