Acute Cocaine Administration: Effects on Local Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolic Demand in the Rat

Local cerebral blood flow and glucose utilisation were measured in both saline (n = 10) and cocaine (10 mg/kg; n = 10) treated rats using [14C]iodoantipyrine and [14C]2-deoxyglucose quantitative autoradiography respectively. In control animals, the ratio of flow to metabolism was 1.40 (r = 0.92) for the 40 brain regions examined. Cocaine treatment altered neither the correlation (r = 0.83) nor the ratio (1.49). Thus, the fundamental relationship between CBF and metabolism remains intact following acute cocaine exposure.