Cocaine Mediated Neuroinflammation: Role of Dysregulated Autophagy in Pericytes.

ABSTRACT: Cocaine, a known psychostimulant, results in oxidative stress and inflammation. Recent studies from our group have shown that cocaine induces inflammation in glial cells. Our current study was aimed at investigating whether cocaine exposure could also induce inflammation in non-glial cells such as the pericytes with a focus on the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress/autophagy axis. Our in vitro findings demonstrated that exposure of pericytes to cocaine resulted in upregulation of the pro-inflammatory cytokines (TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6) in both the intracellular as well as extracellular compartments, thus underpinning pericytes as yet another source of neuroinflammation. Cocaine exposure of pericytes resulted in increased formation of autophagosomes as demonstrated by a time-dependent increas

SUBMITTER: Sil S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6393223 | biostudies-literature | 2019 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature