Cocaine downregulates the expression of the mitochondrial genome in rat brain.

Analysis by differential display of genes induced in response to acute cocaine administration to rats revealed the significant downregulation of several mitochondrial genes in the cingulate cortex, including the subunits 1, 2, 4, 5, and 6 of NADH dehydrogenase and the subunit 2 of cytochrome c oxidase. Although the mechanism of the downregulation of expression of these mitochondrial genes by cocaine is presently not well understood, one can envisage that it involves an increased production of reactive oxygen species in cells of the cerebral cortex.