ArticlePsychopharmacology2016
The effects of sex, estrous cycle, and social contact on cocaine and heroin self-administration in rats.
Article in Psychopharmacology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 71 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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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.
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Who cites it
71 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 109 citations in OpenAlex.
- Translational medications development for methamphetamine use disorder: A systematic review of preclinical, human laboratory, and clinical research.Pharmacological reviews · 2026Pooled it
- 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
- Sex and Chronic Stress Alter the Distribution of Corticotropin-Releasing Factor Receptor in Rat Hippocampus Following Oxycodone Conditioned Place Preference.Synapse (New York, N.Y.) · 2026Article
- Sex differences in the effects of chronic stress and oxycodone associative learning on glial markers in rat hippocampus.Neuroscience · 2026Article
- The Endogenous Opioid System in Compulsive Eating.Brain sciences · 2026Review
- Behavioral flexibility and gut microbiome as potential predictors of oral oxycodone self-administration.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Remifentanil self-administration promotes circuit- and sex-specific adaptations within the prefrontal-accumbens pathways.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- High incidence of estrous cycle irregularities in heterogeneous stock (HS) rats is associated with footshock-resistant cocaine intake.Psychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Remifentanil self-administration promotes circuit- and sex-specific adaptations within the prefrontal-accumbens pathways.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2026Article
- Oxycodone self-administration and drug-primed responding in male and female squirrel monkeys: Effects of alternative reinforcer availability.The Journal of pharmacology and experimental therapeutics · 2025Article
- Hexahydrocannabinol: pharmacokinetics, systemic toxicity, and acute behavioral effects in Wistar rats.The international journal of neuropsychopharmacology · 2025Article
- The positive reinforcing effects of cocaine and opposite-sex social contact: roles of biological sex and estrus.Psychopharmacology · 2025Article
- Comparison of the reinforcing, antinociceptive, and respiratory depressant effects of prototypical and G-protein biased mu-opioid receptor agonists in male and female Sprague-Dawley rats.Psychopharmacology · 2024Article
- Fentanyl demand and seeking in female rats: Role of the orexin system and estrous cycle.Addiction neuroscience · 2024Article
- Sex-Specific ADNP/NAP (Davunetide) Regulation of Cocaine-Induced Plasticity.Journal of molecular neuroscience : MN · 2024Article
- Sex- and estrous-related response patterns for alcohol depend critically on the level of compulsion-like challenge.Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry · 2024Article
- Amelioration of morphine withdrawal syndrome by systemic and intranasal administration of mesenchymal stem cell-derived secretome in preclinical models of morphine dependence.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2024Article
- Sex differences in opioid response: a role for the gut microbiome?Frontiers in pharmacology · 2024Review
- The effects of gonadal hormones on heroin Self-Administration in male gonadectomized rats.Psychopharmacology · 2024Article
11 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
rationalePreclinical studies indicate that gonadal hormones are important determinants of drug self-administration. To date, little is known about the influence of sex and estrous cycle on drug self-administration in ecologically relevant social contexts.
objectiveThe objective of this study was to examine the role of sex and estrous cycle in a rat model during cocaine and heroin self-administration with male-female and female-female social dyads.
methodsMale and female virgin rats were trained to self-administer cocaine and heroin in operant conditioning chambers that permitted two rats to self-administer concurrently, but prevented physical contact. Experiment 1 examined cocaine self-administration on a progressive ratio schedule in male-female dyads. Experiments 2 and 3 examined heroin self-administration on a fixed ratio schedule in male-female dyads at constant and varying doses, respectively. Experiment 4 examined heroin self-administration in female-female dyads on a fixed ratio schedule.
resultsCocaine-maintained breakpoints increased by ∼17 % in females during estrus, but remained consistent in males. Heroin self-administration decreased by ∼70 % during proestrus in females whether they were isolated, housed with males, or housed with females. Heroin self-administration was lower in males than females under some conditions and was not consistently associated with the responding of females.
conclusionsCocaine and heroin self-administration is influenced by the estrous cycle in females when in the presence of a male partner. As a novel finding, these data illustrate that heroin self-administration is reduced in females during proestrus regardless of the social context tested. Finally, these data suggest that drug self-administration in males is only minimally influenced by the hormonal status of a female partner.
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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.