At different stages of life, the human body undergoes a number of hormonal changes. And according to the latest health study, hormonal cycles of women may not only make them prone to drug addiction but it also affects triggers that lead to relapse.
Changes are largely affected by Age and when compared
between men and women, it is said that the female gender experience more
hormonal changes then the male one.
When hormone levels which are related to fertility are high,
female learn faster, and they also make stronger associations to cues in their
environment and are more inclined to seek rewards, says a study published in
the journal Neuropsychopharmacology.
Researcher Erin Calipari, Assistant Professor at Vanderbilt
University in the US says women represent a particularly vulnerable population,
with higher rates of addiction following exposure to drugs.
Calipari said, "For a treatment that is actually
effective, we should first remember the fact that women becoming addicted to
drugs is a fundamentally different process than men."
Then in the next step, we should figure out the number of
hormonal shifts affects the women brain and ultimately develop medications that
could help override those.
During the study, male and female rats were allowed to dose
themselves with cocaine by pushing a lever, with a light set up to come on
during dosing.
In Female rats, when the cocaine rate became high, female
rats made stronger associations with the light and were more likely to keep pushing
the lever as much as it took to get any amount of cocaine.
The findings showed that the females were ready to give more
in the presence of these cues to get cocaine.
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