Females become addicted to cocaine more easily
March 11th, 2011 - 2:52 pm ICT by ANIWashington, Mar 11 (ANI): Females become addicted to cocaine more easily than males and find it harder to give up, according to a new study on rats.
The research showed that the motivation of female rats to work for cocaine is much higher than males.
Researchers from the Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience Institute, University of Michigan, found that rats bred to have an elevated stress response and increased impulsiveness are more easily trained to reward themselves with cocaine.
They are also more determined, than similar rats with low impulsivity and lower stress responses, in pursuit of their next fix.
While cocaine dependency has something to do with thrill seeking and impulsivity, it is also affected by the differences between males and females.
At a low dose, for both sets of rats, it was the females who were quickest to learn self-administration and were the most willing to work harder for their next fix.
At higher doses, the differences in behaviour between the male and female rats were less apparent.
Whilst certain personality types are perhaps predisposed towards drug addiction Dr Jennifer Cummings explained, “An individual’s sex continues to increase the likelihood of drug abuse.”
The study has been published in BioMed Central’s open access journal Biology of Sex Differences. (ANI)
- Females get addicted to cocaine more easily - Mar 11, 2011
- Kids born to smoking mums 'more likely to become smokers' - Mar 22, 2011
- Biological reason behind why depression hits women more than men - Jun 16, 2010
- Certain genetic makeup reduces the brain's neurons in drug addicts - Mar 08, 2011
- Exposure to cocaine during pregnancy may lead to impulsivity in males - Oct 23, 2009
- Mother's sweet tooth bad for girls, not for boys - Feb 27, 2011
- Ketamine -- a magic drug for snapping out of blues - Aug 20, 2010
- Higher dosage of ADHD drug retards learning - Mar 12, 2012
- Chemical in the brain that controls sexual preference in mice found - Mar 24, 2011
- Cannabis-like compounds 'could turn newborn females more masculine' - Nov 09, 2010
- New study offers insights into addiction and impulse-driven behavior - Dec 09, 2010
- New study could lead to systems that target multiple disease pathways - Nov 02, 2010
- Binge eating may cause addictive behaviour - Apr 25, 2012
- New genetic links to impulsive behaviour found - Nov 17, 2011
- Males more considerate than previously thought - Nov 02, 2010
Tags: behavioral neuroscience, biomed central, cocaine dependency, differences between males and females, drug abuse, drug addiction, female rats, impulsiveness, impulsivity, jennifer cummings, journal biology, likelihood, males and females, neuroscience institute, open access, personality types, self administration, sex differences, stress response, stress responses