TIME-DEPENDENT ALTERATIONS IN CORTICOTROPIN-RELEASING FACTOR-LIKE IMMUNOREACTIVITY IN DIFFERENT BRAIN-REGIONS AFTER ACUTE COCAINE ADMINISTRATION TO RATS

Recent data from various laboratories suggest that the activation of e ndogenous corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF) may contribute to the b ehavioral and neuroendocrine effects of cocaine. In the present study, the time-dependent variations in CRF-like immunoreactivity (CRF-LI) i n the hypothalamus and several extrahypothalamic brain regions were de termined after acute cocaine administration to handled rats. The intra peritoneal injection of 7.5 mg/kg cocaine led to a significantly decre ased CRF-LI level in the basal forebrain and to a significantly increa sed CRF-LI level in the amygdala 60 min after administration, while th e CRF-LI content was decreased in the hypothalamus and in the hippocam pus 180 min after cocaine treatment. These results suggest that the du rations of the effects of cocaine on CRF-LI are in the brain region-sp ecific, which might contribute to the mediation of the diverse behavio ral and neuroendocrine effects of cocaine.