Short Communication

Abstract

During cocaine exposure, the liver undergoes significant morphological and biochemical changes. We report here changes in the ganglioside pattern of rat liver after repeated administration (over 5 hours, one injection per hour) of a moderate dose of cocaine (10 mg/kg body weight). Cocaine exposure results in an accumulation of more complex gangliosides (GM1, GD1a, GD1b, GT1b and GQ1b) and a reduction of precursors (GM3, GM2, GD3 and GD2). Our results suggest that ganglioside biosynthesis could be affected by an alteration of vesicular transport from cis- to trans-Golgi cisternae produced either by cocaine itself or by some product of cocaine metabolism.