The effect of a single dose of crack used by Iranian drug addicts on phagocytosis response of neutrophils in Rats

Nowadays, one of the main problems of human societies is the use of narcotics such as crack. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of a single dose of crack on neutrophil phagocytosis in rats. For this purpose, 30 male Wistar rats were randomly allocated into 5 groups of 6 rats and kept in glass aquariums with 12 hours of light and darkness, same feeding conditions and free access to water. After acclimitisation to the new environment, intraperitoneal crack was injected with a dose of 7.8 mg/kg in four treatment groups. Under ether anesthesia, blood samples were collected from the tail vein after 3, 6, 24 hours and a week after crack injection in the treatment groups respectively and on the first day of the study in the control group. The strength of neutrophil phagocytosis was estimated after adjacency with yeast. A significant decrease in white blood cells was observed 3 and 6 hours after crack injection while significant decrease of neutrophils and increase of lymphocytes was seen 3, 6 and 24 hours following crack injection (p<0/05).The strength of neutrophil phagocytosis was also significantly decreased after three and six hours of injection (p<0/05) which could be attributed to the effects of crack on tissue migration of neutrophils, decreased life span of neutrophils or increased production of free radicals. Therefore, the use of crack can pave the way for creationof infection by decreasingthe number of white blood cells and strength of neutrophil phagocytosis.