ArticleBiology of sex differences2012
Sex differences in the neural mechanisms mediating addiction: a new synthesis and hypothesis.
Article in Biology of sex differences, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 177 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
177 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 313 citations in OpenAlex.
- Effectiveness of Alcohol Use Disorder Pharmacotherapies by Sex: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Drug and alcohol review · 2026Pooled it
- The influence of sex and reproductive cycle on cocaine-induced behavioral and neurobiological alterations: a review.Experimental brain research · 2022Pooled it
- Effects of chronic methamphetamine exposure on rewarding behavior and neurodegeneration markers in adult mice.Psychopharmacology · 2023Trial
- Marked sex differences are observed in heroin acquisition and affective states in rats but converge to similar levels of footshock stress-induced reinstatement.Psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Involvement of the dorsal raphe serotonin system in basal and punished heroin self-administration and stress-induced reinstatement in male and female rats.Psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- The WAG/Rij Rat Model of Depression Comorbid with Absence Epilepsy: Sex Differences and Neurochemical Mechanisms.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Trauma History Among Patients Receiving Methadone Maintenance Treatment: Sex Differences, Characteristics, and Outcomes.Substance abuse and rehabilitation · 2026Article
- Fundamental sex differences in cocaine-induced plasticity of D1R- and D2R-MSNs in the mouse nucleus accumbens core.Biology of sex differences · 2025Article
- High-Phenolic Cocoa Enhances Drug-Induced Reinstatement of Cocaine-Conditioned Place Preference Independently of Increasing Adult Hippocampal Neurogenesis.Food science & nutrition · 2025Article
- Alcohol-induced accumbal dopamine- and taurine release in female and male Wistar rats, an in vivo microdialysis study.Journal of neural transmission (Vienna, Austria : 1996) · 2025Article
- Substance use disorders, severe mental illness and risk of reoffending among women released from prison: a national cohort study.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The role of sex in the association between cannabis use disorder and resting-state functional connectivity.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2025Article
- Effect of acute alcohol consumption in a novel rodent model of decision-making.Alcohol and alcoholism (Oxford, Oxfordshire) · 2025Article
- Sex differences in dorsal striatal volume and interest in quitting smoking.Drug and alcohol dependence · 2025Article
- A narrative review on alcohol use in women: insight into the telescoping hypothesis from a biopsychosocial perspective.The American journal of drug and alcohol abuse · 2025Review
- Pituitary adenylate cyclase-activating polypeptide plays a role in neuropsychiatric and substance use disorders: sex-specific perspective.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2025Review
- Parabrachial calcitonin gene-related peptide neurons sex-specifically modulate behavior in anxiety assays during alcohol withdrawal.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Article
- Methamphetamine self-administration causes neuronal dysfunction in rat medial prefrontal cortex in a sex-specific and withdrawal time-dependent manner.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2025Article
- A protocol for modifying progesterone to increase postpartum cigarette smoking abstinence and reduce secondhand smoke exposure in infants.Contemporary clinical trials communications · 2024Article
- Understanding the Emergence of Comorbidity between Problematic Online Gaming and Gambling: A Network Analysis Approach.Brain sciences · 2024Article
117 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
In this review we propose that there are sex differences in how men and women enter onto the path that can lead to addiction. Males are more likely than females to engage in risky behaviors that include experimenting with drugs of abuse, and in susceptible individuals, they are drawn into the spiral that can eventually lead to addiction. Women and girls are more likely to begin taking drugs as self-medication to reduce stress or alleviate depression. For this reason women enter into the downward spiral further along the path to addiction, and so transition to addiction more rapidly. We propose that this sex difference is due, at least in part, to sex differences in the organization of the neural systems responsible for motivation and addiction. Additionally, we suggest that sex differences in these systems and their functioning are accentuated with addiction. In the current review we discuss historical, cultural, social and biological bases for sex differences in addiction with an emphasis on sex differences in the neurotransmitter systems that are implicated.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.