Regional cerebral blood flow in female cocaine-addicted subjects following limbic activation.
BACKGROUND
Cocaine dependence follows a different disease course in men and women, possibly as a consequence of sex-specific neurobiologic responses to chronic cocaine use. We have previously reported that male cocaine-dependent subjects demonstrate a significantly different limbic response to the limbic-stimulus procaine, as measured by regional cerebral blood flow (rCBF), compared with male controls. In this study, we assessed the limbic rCBF response to procaine in female cocaine-addicted subjects (n=10) and female controls (n=10).


METHODS
Subjects were administered 1.38 mg/kg procaine or saline intravenously in two separate sessions. Single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) was used to compare the rCBF response to procaine.


RESULTS
Female cocaine-dependent subjects demonstrate a markedly muted, and distinctly different, limbic response to procaine compared with matched healthy controls.


CONCLUSIONS
The rCBF response to procaine in female cocaine-dependent subjects suggests significant CNS differences compared with non-addicted female controls. Coupled with findings previously observed in male cocaine-dependent subjects, these biologic differences suggest that both male and female subjects experience alterations in limbic responsiveness following the chronic use of cocaine.
Adinoff
Bryon
B
Department of Psychiatry, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX 75390, USA. bryon.adinoff@utsouthwestern.edu
Devous
Michael D
MD
Best
Susan E
SE
Harris
Thomas S
TS
Chandler
Patricia
P
Frock
Sylva D
SD
Williams
Mark J
MJ
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D019970:Cocaine-Related Disorders / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008032:Limbic System / Q000098:blood supply* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging* / Q000187:drug effects; D008875:Middle Aged; D011343:Procaine / Q000494:pharmacology; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D015899:Tomography, Emission-Computed, Single-Photon / Q000379:methods
D011343:Procaine