Enhanced neuronal and blunted hemodynamic reactivity to cocaine in the prefrontal cortex following extended cocaine access: optical imaging study in anesthetized rats

Cocaine addiction is associated with dysfunction of the prefrontal cortex (PFC), which facilitates relapse and compulsive drug taking. To assess if cocaine's effects on both neuronal and vascular activity contribute to PFC dysfunction, we used optical coherence tomography and multi‐wavelength laser speckle to measure vascularization and hemodynamics and used GCaMP6f to monitor intracellular Ca2+ levels ([Ca2+]in) as a marker of neuronal activity. Rats were given short (1 hour; ShA) or long (6 hours; LgA) access cocaine self‐administration. As expected, LgA but not ShA rats escalated cocaine intake. In naïve rats, acute cocaine decreased oxygenated hemoglobin, increased deoxygenated hemoglobin and reduced cerebral blood flow in PFC, likely due to cocaine‐induced vasoconstriction. ShA rats showed enhanced hemodynamic response and slower recovery after cocaine, versus naïve. LgA rats showed a blunted hemodynamic response, but an enhanced PFC neuronal [Ca2+]in increase after cocaine challenge associated with drug intake. Both ShA and LgA groups had higher vessel density, indicative of angiogenesis, presumably to compensate for cocaine's vasoconstricting effects. Cocaine self‐administration modified the PFC cerebrovascular responses enhancing it in ShA and attenuating it in LgA animals. In contrast, LgA but not ShA animals showed sensitized neuronal reactivity to acute cocaine in the PFC. The opposite changes in hemodynamics (decreased) and neuronal responses (enhanced) in LgA rats indicate that these constitute distinct effects and suggest that the neuronal and not the vascular effects are associated with escalation of cocaine intake in addiction whereas its vascular effect in PFC might contribute to cognitive deficits that increase vulnerability to relapse. Using optical imaging in the prefrontal cortex (a), we found that a history of long access cocaine self‐administration caused a blunted hemodynamic (b) and an enhanced neuronal (c) response to a cocaine challenge. This dissociation between vascular and neuronal adaptations may contribute to the escalation of drug intake and the prefrontal cortex dysfunction observed in cocaine abusers.