Cocaine is a local anesthesia and vasoconstrictor that is clinically used during diagnostic proceedures or during surgery in or through the nasal cavity. It comes in drugs called Goprelto and Numbrino which comes as a nasal spray. In these clinical drugs it takes the form of cocaine hydrochloride. The illicit drug has the same effects. Primarily it acts on sensory neurons in the nasal cavity by inhibiting the sodium channels. Stimulation from touch, pressure, stretch, or pain causes sodium channels on sensory receptors to open. Cocaine inhibits those channels, preventing the sensory receptor from depolarizing and triggering an action potential. The different types of sensory neurons it inhibits are mechanoreceptors(pressure, vibrations, and texture), thermoreceptors (temperature), and nociceptors (pain). The prevention of depolarization and action potential in these neurons causes an anesthetic effect in the nasal cavity.

Cocaine Analgesic Pathway References