Study Adds to Understanding of Women`s Addiction Risk

The key to developing more effective addiction treatments for women may lie in a clearer understanding of how hormonal changes affect women's brain processes.

Research published in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology has found that female rodents made stronger associations to environmental cues and were more likely to seek rewards in periods when their hormone levels were high. This study builds on prior research showing that estrogen intensifies the brain's dopamine reward for cocaine use.

“Women becoming addicted to drugs may be a fundamentally different process than men,” said researcher Erin Calipari, assistant professor of pharmacology at the Vanderbilt Center for Addiction Research, in a Vanderbilt News article.

Calipari added, “We know [women] transition to addiction faster and have more problems with craving and relapse. Now, with research like this, we're beginning to isolate environmental and physiological causes.” This in turn could lead to development of effective medications to offset the effects of hormonal shifts on women's brains.

The study using male and female rats found that the females made stronger associations with an environmental cue when their hormone levels were high, resulting in their pushing a lever as often as it took to receive cocaine.