Lack of neurochemical evidence for neurotoxic effects of repeated cocaine administration in rats on brain monoamine neurons.
Rats were injected with cocaine (20 mg/kg, s.c. or i.p. twice daily for 8 days) or saline and killed at 1, 8, 15 or 48 days after the last injection. The concentrations of norepinephrine (NE), dopamine (DA), serotonin (5-HT) and their metabolites, assayed by HPLC-EC, in frontal cortex, hippocampus, striatum, hypothalamus, midbrain, pons-medulla and spinal cord were not significantly different from those in the saline-injected controls at any of the time points examined. These data suggest that the repeated cocaine administration in rats does not produce any long-term depletion in brain catecholamine and 5-HT content suggesting no neurotoxic effects of the drug.
Yeh
S Y
SY
National Institute On Drug Abuse, Addiction Research Center, Baltimore, Maryland 21224.
De Souza
E B
EB
D015102:3,4-Dihydroxyphenylacetic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D003042:Cocaine / Q000633:toxicity*; D004298:Dopamine / Q000378:metabolism*; D006719:Homovanillic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D006897:Hydroxyindoleacetic Acid / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D009474:Neurons / Q000187:drug effects; D009638:Norepinephrine / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D011919:Rats, Inbred Strains; D011941:Receptors, Adrenergic / Q000187:drug effects; D011954:Receptors, Dopamine / Q000187:drug effects; D011985:Receptors, Serotonin / Q000187:drug effects; D012701:Serotonin / Q000378:metabolism*; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000187:drug effects
D011941:Receptors, Adrenergic; D011954:Receptors, Dopamine; D011985:Receptors, Serotonin; D015102:3,4-Dihydroxyphenylacetic Acid; D012701:Serotonin; D006897:Hydroxyindoleacetic Acid; D003042:Cocaine; D004298:Dopamine; D009638:Norepinephrine; D006719:Homovanillic Acid