In the decades since research began, doctors have come to recognize that of the body’s many systems, the cardiovascular system experiences the most noticeable short-term effects of cocaine use. The first of these is a rapid increase in the user’s heart rate, which results in the heart pumping a greater volume of blood through the body. This is essentially the same effect that results from strenuous physical activity except that when cocaine is the cause, blood vessels narrow, forcing the heart to work not just faster but harder. Occasionally, cocaine also causes temporary rapid or erratic heart rhythms, increased blood pressure, and increased body temperature.

The central nervous system also experiences temporary physiological changes. As the cocaine carried by the bloodstream enters the brain, the electrical activity of the brain is temporarily altered as the cocaine is absorbed by cells called neurons. The absorption of cocaine alters the chemistry of the brain to increase production of the chemical dopamine. This change in brain chemistry is responsible for the sense of euphoria, sometimes referred to as a “rush” that is usually described in pleasurable terms as a sudden sense of excitement.

In most healthy people, most of these symptoms disappear within thirty to sixty minutes as the liver chemically decomposes the cocaine, which is then removed from the system by the kidneys.

Dopamine Research

Although the neurotransmitter dopamine has been linked to the euphoric effects of cocaine for several years, recent research suggests that dopamine may only be part of the puzzle, and researchers now suspect that other neurotransmitters may also play a role.

In 1999 researchers at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill wrote a summary of dopamine research titled “Breakthrough? Study Finds Dopamine Cannot Be Source of Pleasure in Brain.” University researchers implanted a tiny carbon fiber electrode in laboratory rats to stimulate the animals’ brains’ pleasure centers in the same way cocaine does. According to Dr. R. Mark Wightman, “We discovered that when we applied the electric shock to a pleasure sensor in the brain of untrained rats, we clearly saw dopamine, but when the animals themselves applied the shock, little or no dopamine appeared.”

Wightman and his staff conclude that although dopamine may be involved in initial learning or anticipation of reward, it clearly is not responsible for continuous pleasure. Wightman suspects that cocaine stimulates production of other neurotransmitters such as serotonin, and that these may be responsible for continued pleasure.

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