ArticleNeuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology2020
Sex, stress, and prefrontal cortex: influence of biological sex on stress-promoted cocaine seeking.
Article in Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 29 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
29 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 46 citations in OpenAlex.
- The influence of sex and reproductive cycle on cocaine-induced behavioral and neurobiological alterations: a review.Experimental brain research · 2022Pooled it
- Sex Differences in Opioid and Psychostimulant Craving and Relapse: A Critical Review.Pharmacological reviews · 2022Pooled it
- Fear conditioning enhances subsequent cocaine self-administration and amygdala neuronal activity only in male rats.Neuropharmacology · 2026Article
- Threat Conditioning Prior to Cocaine or Sucrose Exposure Alters Reward-Seeking Behavior in a Sex-Dependent Manner.Psychiatry international · 2026Article
- Sex-specific differences in endocannabinoid regulation of cocaine-evoked dopamine in the medial nucleus accumbens shell.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
- Repeated footshock stress enhances cocaine self-administration in male and female rats: Role of the cannabinoid receptor 1.Physiology & behavior · 2025Article
- Effect of acute treatment with the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist, liraglutide, and estrus phase on cue- and drug-induced fentanyl seeking in female rats.Behavioural pharmacology · 2025Article
- 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
- Sex-specific effects of chronic stress prior to cocaine exposure on cue- vs drug-induced relapse after prolonged abstinence.Behavioural brain research · 2024Article
- The effects of sleep restriction during abstinence on oxycodone seeking: Sex-dependent moderating effects of behavioral and hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis-related phenotypes.Physiology & behavior · 2023Article
- Role of mesolimbic cannabinoid receptor 1 in stress-driven increases in cocaine self-administration in male rats.Neuropsychopharmacology : official publication of the American College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2023Article
- Transcriptional and epigenetic regulation of microglia in substance use disorders.Molecular and cellular neurosciences · 2023Review
- Sex differences in cocaine self-administration by Wistar rats after predator odor exposure.Advances in drug and alcohol research · 2023Article
- The human neurosecretome: extracellular vesicles and particles (EVPs) of the brain for intercellular communication, therapy, and liquid-biopsy applications.Frontiers in molecular biosciences · 2023Review
- Corticotropin releasing factor and drug seeking in substance use disorders: Preclinical evidence and translational limitations.Addiction neuroscience · 2022Article
- 5-HTFrontiers in behavioral neuroscience · 2022Article
- Networks of habenula-projecting cortical neurons regulate cocaine seeking.Science advances · 2021Article
- Consideration of sex as a biological variable in the translation of pharmacotherapy for stress-associated drug seeking.Neurobiology of stress · 2021Review
- Effects of the glucocorticoid receptor antagonist PT150 on stress-induced fentanyl seeking in male and female rats.Psychopharmacology · 2021Article
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15 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
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Abstract
Clinical reports suggest that females diagnosed with substance use disorder experience enhanced relapse vulnerability compared with males, particularly during stress. We previously demonstrated that a stressor (footshock) can potentiate cocaine seeking in male rats via glucocorticoid-dependent cannabinoid type-1 receptor (CB1R)-mediated actions in the prelimbic prefrontal cortex (PrL-PFC). Here, we investigated the influence of biological sex on stress-potentiated cocaine seeking. Despite comparable self-administration and extinction, females displayed a lower threshold for cocaine-primed reinstatement than males. Unlike males, footshock, tested across a range of intensities, failed to potentiate cocaine-primed reinstatement in females. However, restraint potentiated reinstatement in both sexes. While sex differences in stressor-induced plasma corticosterone (CORT) elevations and defensive behaviors were not observed, differences were evident in footshock-elicited ultrasonic vocalizations. CORT administration, at a dose which recapitulates stressor-induced plasma levels, reproduced stress-potentiated cocaine-primed reinstatement in both sexes. In females, CORT effects varied across the estrous cycle; CORT-potentiated reinstatement was only observed during diestrus and proestrus. As in males, CORT-potentiated cocaine seeking in females was localized to the PrL-PFC and both CORT- and restraint-potentiated cocaine seeking required PrL-PFC CB1R activation. In addition, ex vivo whole-cell electrophysiological recordings from female layer V PrL-PFC pyramidal neurons revealed CB1R-dependent CORT-induced suppression of inhibitory synaptic activity, as previously observed in males. These findings demonstrate that, while stress potentiates cocaine seeking via PrL-PFC CB1R in both sexes, sensitivity to cocaine priming injections is greater in females, CORT-potentiating effects vary with the estrous cycle, and whether reactivity to specific stressors may manifest as drug seeking depends on biological sex.
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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.