CSF CRH in abstinent cocaine-dependent patients

Roy, Alec; Bissette, Garth; Williams, Redford; Berman, Jeffrey; Gonzalez, Bienvenido

doi:10.1016/S0165-1781(03)00040-4

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Volume 117, Issue 3 , Pages 277-280, 25 March 2003

CSF CRH in abstinent cocaine-dependent patients

Alec Roy
- Psychiatry Service (116A), Department of Veterans Affairs, New Jersey Healthcare System, 385 Tremont Avenue, East Orange, NJ 07018, USA
- Corresponding author. Tel.: +1-973-676-1000x1343; fax: +1-973-395-7766
Garth Bissette
- Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, University of Mississippi, Jackson, MS, USA
Redford Williams
- Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Duke University Medical School, Durham, NC, USA
Jeffrey Berman
- Psychiatry Service (116A), Department of Veterans Affairs, New Jersey Healthcare System, 385 Tremont Avenue, East Orange, NJ 07018, USA
Bienvenido Gonzalez
- Psychiatry Service (116A), Department of Veterans Affairs, New Jersey Healthcare System, 385 Tremont Avenue, East Orange, NJ 07018, USA

Received 30 April 2002; received in revised form 26 December 2002; accepted 27 January 2003.

Abstract

Alterations in stress responsivity may be important in the vulnerability to become cocaine dependent. Thus, an index of hypothalamic–pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis function was examined in abstinent cocaine-dependent patients. Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) concentrations of corticotropin releasing factor (CRH) were determined in 29 abstinent cocaine-dependent patients and 66 normal controls. The results showed that there was no significant difference between the abstinent cocaine-dependent patients and normal controls for CSF CRH. Also, CSF CRH concentrations were not related to cocaine-craving scores in a cue-elicited cocaine-craving procedure. Thus, these data suggest that after protracted abstinence from cocaine there is no marked dysregulation of CRH systems as measured by CSF CRH concentrations.

Keywords: Cocaine, HPA, CSF, CRH, Craving, Childhood, Trauma