Long-Term Cocaine Self-administration Produces Structural Brain Changes That Correlate With Altered Cognition.

Background: An enduring question from cross-sectional clinical studies is whether the structural and functional differences often observed between cocaine users and healthy control subjects result from a history of drug use or instead reflect preexisting differences. To assess causality from drug exposure, true predrug baseline imaging and neurocognitive assessments are needed.

Methods: We addressed this fundamental question of causality using longitudinal anatomical magnetic resonance imaging and neurocognitive assessments in rhesus macaques.