This is what killed the University of Maryland basketball player, Len Bias, in 1986. In fact, if animals are given the choice, they will put up with electrical shocks and give up food and water if they can get cocaine. Cocaine acts by blocking the reuptake of the neurotransmitters dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin in the brain. Therefore, these neurotransmitters stay in the synaptic cleft for a longer time. Research has also shown that cocaine can also cause the release of dopamine from neurons in the brain.
Cocaine can also affect the peripheral nervous system.
These effects include constriction of blood vessels, dilation of the pupil and irregular heart beat. The PET scan shows brain function by seeing how the brain uses glucose, the energy source for neurons. In these scans, the red color shows high use of glucose, yellow shows medium use and blue shows the least use of glucose. Notice that many areas of the brain of the cocaine user do not use glucose as effectively as the brain of the normal person. This can be observed by the lower amounts of red in the right PET scan.