Cocaine-induced embryonic cardiovascular disruption in mice

The purpose of this study was to determine whether vascular disruption is a feature of cocaine-induced teratogenicity in early murine organogenesis. The embryotoxic effects of cocaine were assessed: (1) in vivo, (2) in embryos cultured in the presence of cocaine (in vitro), and (3) after cocaine was administered in vivo and the embryos subsequently cultured in the absence of cocaine (in vivo-in vitro). When cocaine (78 mg/kg) was administered in vivo on day 8 and embryos were assessed an day 10, significant vascular perturbations, in the form of vasodilation and hemorrhage, as well as neural defects, were observed. In the in vitro system, day 8 embryos were cultured for 48 hr in the presence of 0, 10, 20, 33, and 66 μg/ml cocaine