Stimulation of brain metabolism by perinatal cocaine exposure.

Cocaine was administered to neonatal rats between day 1 and day 10, which in the rat falls within a developmental stage roughly equivalent to the third trimester of gestation in human fetuses. At 60 days of age, when the animals had reached adulthood, cerebral glucose metabolic patterns were examined by quantitative autoradiography. Adult females, but not adult males, exhibited significant increases in metabolic activity in a number of cerebral structures, including those of the limbic, motor, and sensory systems. Many of these structures are the same as those which are excited in adult rats by the acute administration of cocaine and other stimulants. These data suggest that cocaine consumption during pregnancy may constitute a risk factor leading to long-term alterations in brain function in the adult.