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Apparent synaptic dopamine deficiency induced by withdrawal from chronic cocaine treatment
M W Robertson1, C A Leslie, J P Bennett
1Department of Behavioral Medicine, University of Virginia School of Medicine, Charlottesville 22908.
Brain Research
|January 11, 1991
Abstract:
The effects on motor behavior and forebrain dopamine (DA) synaptic function of withdrawal from chronic cocaine treatment were examined with simultaneous activity monitoring and microdialysis in nucleus accumbens. Rats exhibited behavioral sensitization to daily 30 mg/kg i.p. cocaine. After 18 days of daily cocaine and 7 days of withdrawal, dialysate DA and homovanillic acid (HVA) levels were reduced 36-38%, consistent with a synaptic DA deficiency.