Effects of opiate dependence through different administration routes on pulmonary inflammation and its severity

Serious health problems and socioeconomic consequences of the illicit use of opiates have been proved in both developed and developing societies.

We aimed to evaluate" The effects of opiate addiction through different administration routes on pulmonary inflammation and its severity."

Our experiments were performed on eighteen adult male Syrian golden hamsters which were allocated to one of the three groups (n = 6): control group which did not receive opiate; the first study group were administered oral opiate via stomach tube; and another study group were administered inhaled opiate. After four weeks, all hamsters were anesthetized with diethyl ether and their lung tissues were isolated for pathological assessment.

Severe perivascular inflammation was detected in 33.3% of the samples with oral opiate dependence and 20% of the cases addicted to opiate through inhalation. Also, severe peribronchial inflammation was observed in only 20% of the samples addicted to inhaled opiate and was not found in the other groups. No significant differences were found in the severity of perivascular and peribronchial inflammation across the three groups. Although the mean of total inflammation scale in the subjects with oral opiate dependence (3.00 ± 1.79) was numerically higher than that in the inhaled dependence group (1.40 ± 2.60) and the controls (2.25 ± 1.26), this difference was not statistically significant.

Administration did not influence the appearance or severity of pulmonary inflammation in animal models addicted to opiate.