Cardiovascular hypertrophy and increased vascular contractile responsiveness following repeated cocaine administration in rabbits

Abstract The effects of repeated cocaine administration on contractile responses were studied in adult rabbits. Repeated cocaine exposure caused a significant increase in the maximal response of the aorta to the agonists norepinephrine and serotonin as well as the receptor-independent stimulus KCI when compared to the saline controls. Cocaine exposure caused a significant increase in the wet weights of both the heart and aorta. When the contraction was normalized to the wet weight of the aorta there was no difference between rabbits administered cocaine and saline. Acute cocaine administration caused a time-dependent increase in immunoreactivity of the proto-oncogene c-Fos in the aorta. These results show that repeated cocaine administration leads to the development of cardiovascular hypertrophy.