title: Effects of prenatal exposure to cocaine on brain structure and function.
abstract: Drug abuse during pregnancy affects the mother and has adverse effects on the unborn child. This chapter highlights our recent findings at the neuroanatomical, molecular, and behavioral levels in a prenatal cocaine exposure mouse model. In the embryonic brains of prenatally cocaine-exposed mice, we observed a delay in the tangential migration of GABA neurons to the cerebral cortex as a result of a significant but transient decrease in the expression of the neurotrophin brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). These developmental changes lead to lasting deficits in the numerical density of GABA neurons in the mature medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC). In adult prenatally cocaine-exposed mice, we observed a behavioral deficit in the recall of an extinguished cue-conditioned fear, which was rescued by administration of exogenous recombinant BDNF protein directly into the infralimbic cortex of the mPFC, which may result from altered activity-driven transcriptional regulation of BDNF.
authors: Center for Brain Repair, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Florida State University College of Medicine, Tallahassee, FL, USA.
authors: Deirdre M
authors: DM
authors: McCarthy
authors: Division of Pediatric Neurology, Department of Pediatrics, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA; Brain and Mind Institute, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA.
authors: Zeeba D
authors: ZD
authors: Kabir
authors: Center for Brain Repair, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Florida State University College of Medicine, Tallahassee, FL, USA.
authors: Pradeep G
authors: PG
authors: Bhide
authors: Division of Pediatric Neurology, Department of Pediatrics, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA; Brain and Mind Institute, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA. Electronic address: bar2009@med.cornell.edu.
authors: Barry E
authors: BE
authors: Kosofsky
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects*; D003042:Cocaine / Q000633:toxicity*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D018765:Dopamine Uptake Inhibitors / Q000633:toxicity*; D005260:Female; D051379:Mice; D055495:Neurogenesis / Q000187:drug effects*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011297:Prenatal Exposure Delayed Effects
chemical_list: D018765:Dopamine Uptake Inhibitors; D003042:Cocaine
keywords: BDNF; GABA; cocaine; dopamine; fear extinction