Cerebral cortex
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Prenatal exposure to cocaine has the potential to modify normal brain development and result in behavioral dysfunction. We used a new animal model in which cocaine was administered intravenously during prenatal development in pregnant rabbits twice daily at low dosages. Analysis of brain development focused on two areas of the cerebral cortex, anterior cingulate and primary visual, in which dopamine afferents, a target of cocaine, are differentially distributed. ⋯ The data indicate that prenatal exposure to cocaine can lead to specific alterations of neuronal growth that are long lasting. The lack of dendritic changes in visual cortex suggests that the drug does not modify development of cortical regions uniformly. This study also provides a new focus on the anterior cingulate cortex as a site in which aberrant structure-function relationships following prenatal cocaine exposure should be examined in both animal models and clinically.