Morphine-induced macrophage activity modulates mesangial cell proliferation and matrix synthesis

Morphine-induced macrophage activity modulates mesangial cell proliferation and matrix synthesis. Glomerular mesangial injury is the predominant renal lesion in patients with heroin addiction. We studied the effect of morphine (an active metabolite of heroin) activated macrophages on mesangial cell (MC) proliferation and matrix synthesis. We prepared conditioned media containing either vehicle alone (CSP), macrophage secretory products (MSP) and secretory products of morphine treated macrophages (M-MSP). M-MSP increased ( P P P β antibodies. Since M-MSP also increased mRNA expression for TGF- β by MC, it appears that the effect of M-MSP on MC may be mediated through the generation of TGF- β .