Vanderbilt University Medical Center - Although the “crack baby” hysteria of the 1980s was greatly exaggerated, cocaine use during pregnancy can cause subtle but disabling cognitive impairments — attention deficits, learning disabilities and emotional problems.范德比尔特大学医学中心-虽然"破宝贝"的歇斯底里的年代大大夸大了，使用可卡因妊娠期间可造成微妙但禁用认知-注意缺陷，学习障碍和情绪问题。

A recent study by investigators at the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center for Research on Human Development may help explain the long-term behavioral and neurological problems associated with prenatal exposure to cocaine.最近一项研究调查范德比尔特肯尼迪中心，为研究人类的发展可能有助于解释长期行为和神经系统有关的问题产前接触可卡因。 In the current issue of the Journal of Neuroscience, Gregg Stanwood, Ph.D., and Pat Levitt, Ph.D., report that prenatal cocaine exposure in rabbits causes a long lasting displacement of dopamine receptors in certain brain cells, which alters their ability to function normally.在本期杂志神经病，格雷格stanwood博士和帕特利维特博士报告说，产前暴露可卡因兔造成长久位移多巴胺受体在某些脑细胞，改变其能否正常运转。

Though this effect has not yet been assessed in cocaine-exposed children, the findings give researchers a place to start looking.虽然这一效应尚未得到评估可卡因暴露儿童，结果给研究者的地方开始寻找。

“The hysteria surrounding the ‘crack baby’ was sort of overblown,” said Stanwood, research assistant professor of Pharmacology and lead author on the study. "歇斯底里周围的裂纹宝宝'是一种夸大，说： " stanwood ，研究助理教授，药理学和铅对作者的研究。

Incredibly high levels of cocaine — usually coupled with the abuse of other drugs — can lead to premature labor, preterm birth and low birth weight, Stanwood said.令人难以置信的高水平可卡因-通常加上滥用其他药物-可导致早产，早产和低出生体重，s t anwood说。

“But in women who have abused relatively low recreational doses of cocaine, it is actually very hard to distinguish those children at birth from children born to anyone else,” he said. " ，但在女性曾滥用较低休闲剂量的可卡因，它实际上是很难分清这些儿童在出生时，从孩子出生到别人， "他说。 “However, as those children age, they do develop deficits in their cognitive and emotional development.” "但是，由于这些儿童的年龄，他们制定赤字在其认知和情感的发展" 。

These cocaine-exposed children often exhibit attention and arousal problems, similar to children with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).这些可卡因暴露儿童常常表现出注意力和觉醒的问题，类似的儿童多动症（多动症） 。 However, the standard treatments for ADHD — Ritalin and other stimulants — are not always effective in these children.然而，标准的治疗多动症-利他林和其他兴奋剂-并不总是有效，在这些儿童。

Studying the effects of prenatal cocaine exposure on the developing brain is difficult in human populations because cocaine abusers often abuse other drugs.学习效果产前暴露可卡因对脑发育，是难以在人群中，因为可卡因吸毒者往往滥用其他药物。 Animal models can help determine how prenatal cocaine exposure might influence brain development to cause these subtle cognitive impairments.动物模型，可以帮助您确定如何产前暴露可卡因可能影响脑发育，造成这些微妙的认知。

“We thought that it was important to set up an animal model that recapitulates a key feature of human abuse — that being intravenous exposure to low doses of cocaine,” Stanwood said. "我们认为这是重要的，成立一个动物模型，概括的一个重要特点人类滥用-即静脉被暴露于低剂量的可卡因， " s tanwood说。

A few years ago, Stanwood and Levitt, professor of Pharmacology and director of the Vanderbilt Kennedy Center, established such a model in rabbits.几年前， stanwood和利维教授，药理学主任范德比尔特肯尼迪中心，设立了这样的动物模型。 They found that exposure to low levels of intravenous cocaine during a very short window of time during gestation — equivalent to the late first trimester and early second trimester in humans — caused specific alterations in brain circuits that use the neurotransmitter dopamine.他们发现，暴露于低层次注射可卡因在很短的窗口时间孕期-相当于晚孕期和早期孕中期人类-造成具体改建脑电路使用神经递质多巴胺。 Additionally, these cocaine-exposed offspring showed attention problems as well as insensitivity to stimulants like amphetamine, suggesting that cocaine exposure had altered the development of the dopamine pathways in the brain.此外，这些可卡因暴露子代表现应注意的问题以及不灵敏像兴奋剂安非他明，暗示暴露可卡因改变了发展的通路多巴胺在大脑中。

“In collaboration with Dr. Eitan Friedman of the City University of New York, we had previously shown a decrease in signaling of a particular receptor protein, the dopamine D1 receptor,” Stanwood said. "同博士艾登弗里德曼的纽约市立大学，我们曾呈下降信令某一受体蛋白，多巴胺受体d1 ， " stanwood说。 “We know that this receptor is involved in regulating the formation of cortical circuitry. "我们知道这是受体参与调节形成皮层电路。 It’s also involved in the behavioral effects of amphetamines and cocaine.”它也涉及行为的影响苯丙胺和可卡因。 "

“The current study was an attempt to look at the mechanism of this decrease in D1 receptor signaling,” he said. "目前的研究是企图看看机制这一下降d1受体信号， "他说。

Stanwood examined the levels of D1 receptor in brain cells taken from “teenage” rabbits that were exposed to cocaine during that short, sensitive prenatal period. stanwood研究水平d1受体脑细胞取自"少女"兔被暴露可卡因期间短，产前敏感时期。

He found that cocaine exposure did not alter the total amount of D1 receptor produced in the brain.他发现，暴露可卡因没有改变总额d1受体产生于大脑。 However, there was a dramatic alteration in the location of the protein within the cell.然而，有一个急剧变化的位置蛋白质与细胞。

“It’s not where it should be,” he said. "这不是它应当， "他说。 D1 receptors are normally found at the cell surface, but neurons from the cocaine-exposed animals showed the receptor was predominantly sequestered inside the cells. d1受体通常出现在细胞表面，而是从神经可卡因暴露动物显示受体主要是螯内细胞。

“The fascinating thing is that this effect appears permanent,” said Stanwood. "有趣的是，这似乎效果永久说： " stanwood 。

This implies that cocaine exposure during a brief, sensitive period of neural development can lead to long-lasting effects at the cellular level.这意味着暴露可卡因在短暂的敏感时期神经发育，可导致持久的影响，在细胞水平上。

This change also altered the growth of neuronal processes, suggesting that the altered D1 receptor trafficking may underlie the changes in neuronal architecture and behavior that Stanwood and others have previously observed.这种变化也改变了生长神经元突起，表明蚀变d1受体贩卖背后可能改变神经结构和行为stanwood等曾观察到。

What remains to be determined, he cautioned, is whether D1 receptor localization is affected in humans exposed to cocaine prenatally.剩下待定，他告诫说，无论是d1受体定位是影响人体暴露于产前可卡因。

If found in humans, “it gives us a new way to think about helping those children as they continue to mature.” Because cocaine exposure seems to alter the distribution of the D1 receptor, Stanwood suggests that researchers might find a way to “steer” the receptor into the correct cellular location.如果发现在人类中， "它给我们提出了新的思考方式帮助这些孩子，因为他们继续成熟" 。因为暴露可卡因似乎改变分配的d1受体， stanwood表明研究者可能找到一个方法来"引导"受体进入细胞的正确位置。 That could provide new avenues for treating the attention problems in cocaine-exposed children, as well as in children with stimulant-resistant ADHD.能够提供新的途径处理问题，注意在可卡因暴露儿童，以及儿童与兴奋剂抗动。

“Neither we nor anyone else has yet identified whether this mechanism occurs in the human population,” Stanwood said, “so that is a critical next step.” "我们既没有任何其他尚未确定这个机制是否发生在人口， " stanwood说， "这是一个关键的下一步" 。