Effects of alcohol on metabolism and toxicity of cocaine in rats

As most cocaine users drink alcohol, it is interesting to understand how a non-lethal dose of alcohol affects the metabolism and toxicity of cocaine. In this study, we examined the correlation between dose-dependent toxicity and the metabolism/pharmacokinetic (PK) profile of cocaine with or without alcohol (ethanol, 1 g/kg) co-administration in rats. The cocaine toxicity in rats with or without alcohol co-administration is characterized by not only the commonly used LD₅₀, but also the average times for the appearance of convulsion and death as well as total toxicity level (TTL) in the blood. All these data have consistently demonstrated that co-administration of alcohol increased cocaine toxicity, and that the alcohol-enhanced toxicity of cocaine is mainly attributed to the observed two additional metabolites (cocaethylene and norcocaethylene – products of chemical reactions of cocaine with alcohol catalyzed by metabolic enzymes carboxylesterase-1 and liver microsomal cytochrome P450 3A4) that are more toxic than cocaine itself. So, evaluation of the substance TTL should account for the blood levels of not only cocaine itself, but also its all toxic metabolites. In addition, for rats died of a lethal dose of cocaine (60 or 100 mg/kg) combined with 1 g/kg alcohol, we also determined the TTL at the time of death, demonstrating that death would occur once the TTL reached a threshold (~16 μM).