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Acute tolerance to cocaine in humans
Author(s) -
Ambre John J,
Belknap Steven M,
Nelson John,
Ruo Tsuen Ih,
Shin SangGoo,
Atkinson Arthur J
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
clinical pharmacology and therapeutics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.941
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1532-6535
pISSN - 0009-9236
DOI - 10.1038/clpt.1988.104
Subject(s) - chronotropic , volunteer , medicine , drug tolerance , anesthesia , pharmacology , heart rate , blood pressure , biology , agronomy
There is controversy as to whether acute tolerance develops to the principal effects of cocaine in humans. The studies described here demonstrate the phenomenon of acute tolerance to cocaine chronotropic and subjective effects and the rate and extent of tolerance development. Stable plasma cocaine concentrations were produced and then maintained in volunteer cocaine users by administering an intravenous cocaine injection followed by a cocaine infusion designed to compensate for the plasma clearance of cocaine. The euphoric effect (high) intensified to a peak at about 1 hour and then declined toward baseline at 4 hours despite the presence of constant plasma cocaine levels. The chronotropic effect reached a peak within 10 minutes and then declined, with a half‐life of 31 ± 13 (mean ± SD) minutes toward a plateau at 33% ± 21% of its peak intensity. Tolerance development was quantified as an exponential process, with a rate constant (tolerance factor) accounting for the progressive alteration of the cocaine concentration‐effect relationship. Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics (1988) 44, 1–8; doi: 10.1038/clpt.1988.104