Abstract

Clinically, women appear to be more susceptible to certain aspects of substance use disorders (SUDs). The steroid hormones 17β-estradiol (E2) and progesterone (Pg) have been linked to women-specific drug behaviors. Here, we review clinical and preclinical studies investigating how cycling ovarian hormones affect nicotine-, cocaine-, and opioid-related behaviors. We also highlight gaps in the literature regarding how synthetic steroid hormone use may influence drug-related behaviors. In addition, we explore how E2 and Pg are known to interact in brain reward pathways and provide evidence of how these interactions may influence drug-related behaviors. The synthesis of this review demonstrates the critical need to study women-specific factors that may influence aspects of SUDs, which may play important roles in addiction processes in a sex-specific fashion. It is important to understand factors that impact women’s health and may be key to moving the field forward toward more efficacious and individualized treatment strategies.

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

4-2023

Notes/Citation Information

0091-3022/© 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Inc. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by- nc-nd/4.0/).

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yfrne.2023.101059

Funding Information

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health Grant DA055879, DA044479, DA046526, DA049130, and DA045881 (to CDG) as well as AA024519 and AA028503 (to JJW) and the Igniting Research Collaborations Pilot Grant (to CDG and JJW). All authors have no disclosures to declare.

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