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Updated: May 18, 2026

Assessment of Cocaine-induced Behavioral Sensitization and Conditioned Place Preference in Mice
Published on: February 18, 2016
Cocaine intoxication
1Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, NY, USA. janicez@tmhs.org
Abstract:
Cocaine, a natural alkaloid derived from the coca plant, is one of the most commonly abused illicit drugs. Cocaine is commonly abused by inhalation, nasal insufflation, and intravenous injection, resulting in many adverse effects that ensue from local anesthetic, vasoconstrictive, sympathomimetic, psychoactive, and prothrombotic mechanisms. Cocaine can affect all body systems and the clinical presentation may primarily result from organ toxicity. Among the most severe complications are seizures, hemorrhagic and ischemic strokes, myocardial infarction, aortic dissection, rhabdomyolysis, mesenteric ischemia, acute renal injury and multiple organ failure.
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