title: Response of the human hepatic tissue cultures Hep-G2 and WRL-68 to cocaine.
abstract: The hydrolytic metabolism of cocaine into benzoylecgonine, ecgonine methyl ester, and ecgonine was studied in the human hepatoma cell line Hep-G2 and in the nontumorigenic fetal hepatic cell line WRL-68. Also, the toxicological response of these cells to cocaine was compared to previously published results obtained with perfused liver cells and in vivo systems. Our experiments indicated that Hep-G2 appear to have similar metabolic and toxicological patterns to in vivo and perfused cell systems. The WRL-68 tissue culture system was found to be less similar. These results suggest Hep-G2 cells can be utilized to study cocaine metabolism and toxicology, and possibly in studies involving other xenobiotic compounds.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Investigation Facility, David Grant USAF Medical Center, Travis Air Force Base, CA, USA.
authors.forename: P M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Falk
authors.forename: R T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Sabater
authors.forename: D D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Carballo
mesh_terms: D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; D016923:Cell Death / Q000187:drug effects; D002455:Cell Division / Q000187:drug effects; D002460:Cell Line; D002849:Chromatography, Gas; D003042:Cocaine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000032:analysis / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000633:toxicity*; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000166:cytology / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D013058:Mass Spectrometry; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: C005618:benzoylecgonine; C005617:ecgonine; D003042:Cocaine; C034524:ecgonine methyl ester