Maus-tratos na infância e mediadores inflamatórios na desintoxicação de usuárias de crack

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Both childhood maltreatment (CM) and substance abuse, especially cocaine, have robust effects on the inflammatory system. Considering that CM have been described as an important risk factor for addiction, this study aimed to investigate peripheral levels of inflammatory mediators during early abstinence from female crack cocaine dependents with and without history of CM. METHOD: This dissertation consists of two empirical studies. The first is a follow-up study that investigated three adipocytokines in 104 dependent on crack cocaine and 18 healthy controls. Plasma levels of adiponectin, resistin and leptin were evaluated every seven days for three weeks by ELISA. The second is a cross-sectional study that investigated the TNF-alpha and four members of the TNF superfamily, by ELISA and flow cytometry in 44 dependent on crack cocaine and 25 healthy controls. Both studies used the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ) to retrospectively assess history of CM of participants. RESULTS: The first study revealed that users of crack increased plasma leptin levels during early abstinence, although concentrations have remained lower compared with the control group. In relation to the levels of adiponectin, the group of women who had suffered CM reduced compared with users without CM levels. Moreover, only the group of users without CM had increased plasma levels of adiponectin during detoxification. The second study showed that users with CM had higher levels of TNF-alpha and lower levels of TWEAK compared with users without CM and the control group. sTNFRII was high, but only in comparison with the group using crack and controls. TRAIL levels were slightly elevated in the group with CM, and it was not found differences between the groups in the levels of sTNFRI. In addition, the plasma level of TNF-alpha was positively predicted by craving and CM gravity. CONCLUSION: The present work corroborates the knowledge about the association between early life stress and peripheral pro-inflammatory mediators. The results showed inflammatory abnormalities in crack addiction and explores the cumulative effects in relation to CM as a relevant factor for this deregulation.