Teratogen+-+Cocaine





Cocaine is an extremely powerful addictive stimulant. It can be snorted when in the powdered hydrochloride salt form. it can also be devolved in water to be injected. The street name given to cocaine is crack. When formed into a crystal it can be heated up to be smoked which then you inhale the vapors that are produced. Cocaine gets its street name crack from the crackling noise it makes when it's being smoked. When snorting the drug through the nose it enters the bloodstream through the nasal tissue. Injecting uses a needle to push the drug directly into the bloodstream. Smoking the drug involves inhaling the vapors of cocaine directly into the lungs where the drug enters the bloodstream just as fast as injection.

Cocaine stimulates the central nervous system. It increases the levels of dopamine, a brain chemical associated with pleasure and movement. Brain cells use dopamine to communicate. The brain uses dopamine in response to something pleasurable and then recycles it back into the cell that released it, which shuts off the signal between neurons. Cocaine prevents the dopamine from being recycled so there is a build up of excessive amounts of neurotransmitters, which amplify the response to neurons, disrupting normal communication.

Cocaine has numerous effects on the body. Blood vessels can constrict, pupils can dilate, blood temperature, heart rate, and blood pressure can raise while on cocaine. It also can cause nausea, abdominal pain, and head aches. Cocaine decreases ones appetite so excessive users can become malnourished. Depending on the way the drug is ingested it can have many more effects to the body. When snorted it can cause loss of smell, nosebleeds, trouble swallowing, horsiness, and chronic runny nose. Injecting can bring out severe allergies, increases the risk for contracting HIV/AIDS and other blood-borne diseases. Excessive use can lead to irritability, restlessness, and anxiety. No matter the way of ingesting or how often of use abusers experience cardiovascular emergencies, such as heart attack and stroke.

Cocaine, once thought to be one of the if not the most damaging of all teratogens, has had new light shed on it by recent research. Although still harmful and damaging to the embryo/fetus the effects on it are not as extreme as once previously thought by medical personnel, in-fact the effects caused by by cocaine use by the pregnant mother are much less then those when alcohol is consumed during pregnancy. Most of the effects that are caused upon to the baby are those associated with anyone who uses the drug, ie. low weight and sexually transmitted diseases, from sharing needles or unprotected sex from not thinking straight while under the influence, and not from the actual chemicals of the drug itself.