ArticlePsychopharmacology2012
Sex differences in behavioral and neural cross-sensitization and escalated cocaine taking as a result of episodic social defeat stress in rats.
Article in Psychopharmacology, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 65 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
65 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 100 citations in OpenAlex.
- Ovarian Hormones and Addictive Behaviour Vulnerability: Insights From Preclinical Studies.Addiction biology · 2025Pooled it
- The influence of sex and reproductive cycle on cocaine-induced behavioral and neurobiological alterations: a review.Experimental brain research · 2022Pooled it
- Yohimbine administration and cue-reactivity in cocaine-dependent individuals.Psychopharmacology · 2014Trial
- Sex and ovarian hormone cycles alter effects of stimulant drugs on mouse dopaminergic signaling.The Journal of clinical investigation · 2026Article
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- Article
- Sex differences in stress-modulated cocaine vulnerability: female rodents are more sensitive to the effects of stress exposure at different developmental stages.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2025Review
- Subregion-specific transcriptomic profiling of rat brain reveals sex-distinct gene expression impacted by adolescent stress.Neuroscience · 2024Article
- Sex-Specific Mechanisms Underlie Long-Term Potentiation at Hippocampus→Medium Spiny Neuron Synapses in the Medial Shell of the Nucleus Accumbens.The Journal of neuroscience : the official journal of the Society for Neuroscience · 2024Article
- Choice impulsivity after repeated social stress is associated with increased perineuronal nets in the medial prefrontal cortex.Scientific reports · 2024Article
- Repeated chemogenetic activation of dopaminergic neurons induces reversible changes in baseline and amphetamine-induced behaviors.Psychopharmacology · 2023Article
- Role of social context in addiction etiology and recovery.Pharmacology, biochemistry, and behavior · 2023Review
- Sex- and Gender-Specific Drug Abuse Dynamics: The Need for Tailored Therapeutic Approaches.Journal of personalized medicine · 2023Article
- Reinstatement of Pavlovian responses to alcohol cues by stress.Psychopharmacology · 2023Article
- Vicarious Social Defeat Increases Conditioned Rewarding Effects of Cocaine and Ethanol Intake in Female Mice.Biomedicines · 2023Article
- Sex differences in cocaine self-administration by Wistar rats after predator odor exposure.Advances in drug and alcohol research · 2023Article
- Estradiol reduction through aromatase inhibition impairs cocaine seeking in male rats.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2023Article
- Intermittent social stress produces different short- and long-term effects on effort-based reward-seeking behavior.Behavioural brain research · 2022Article
- Neurobiological Bases of Alcohol Consumption After Social Stress.Current topics in behavioral neurosciences · 2022Article
- Friend of the Devil: Negative Social Influences Driving Substance Use Disorders.Frontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2022Review
5 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
4 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
rationaleEpisodic social defeat stress results in cross-sensitization to cocaine, characterized by augmentation of locomotor activity, dopamine (DA) levels in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), and cocaine self-administration during a 24-h "binge" in male rats. However, females are more vulnerable than males at each phase of cocaine addiction, and while these sex differences have been replicated in rats, the role of social stress in females remains largely neglected.
objectiveThis study examined sex and estrous cycle differences in behavioral and dopaminergic cross-sensitization to cocaine, as well as cocaine taking in an unlimited-access self-administration "binge."
methodsLong-Evans rats underwent episodic social defeat and were assessed 10 days later for either (1) behavioral sensitization, as determined by locomotor activity in response to acute cocaine (10 mg/kg, i.p.), (2) neural sensitization, as determined by in vivo microdialysis of DA in the NAc shell in response to acute cocaine, or (3) intravenous self-administration of cocaine (0.3 mg/kg/infusion) in an unlimited-access "binge."
resultsSocial defeat stress resulted in behavioral and dopaminergic cross-sensitization in both sexes, but the effect was larger and longer lasting in stressed females. Furthermore, while stress engendered a longer "binge" in both sexes, females had a significantly longer "binge" duration than males.
conclusionsThese data suggest that socially stressed females exhibit a larger and longer lasting behavioral and neural cross-sensitization, as well as more dysregulated cocaine taking, than males possibly due to different alterations in the dopaminergic response in the NAc. Furthermore, estrogens appear to play a facilitatory role in both behavioral and dopaminergic sensitization.
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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.