Sex differences in the effects of cocaine abuse across the life span

Cocaine alters brain function from the early days of development throughout the entire life of an individual. Since the first preclinical research on cocaine sensitization was published, sex differences in response to the drug in adult rats have been noted. With the appearance of reports on “crack babies” during the 1980s, sex differences in response to prenatal (developmental) exposure have been identified in both clinical and preclinical reports. Cocaine administered during early development in the rat produces wide-spread alterations in function which depend on the timing of drug administration as well as the sex of the animal. In males, the response patterns following postnatal days (PND) 11–20 cocaine administration (equivalent to the late prenatal period in humans) are quite similar to those seen following prenatal exposure (equivalent to the first half of pregnancy in humans). There is a general decrease in dopaminergic (DA) markers and reactivity perhaps due to the uncoupling of the D1 receptor from its second messenger system. While similar changes in D1 uncoupling are seen in females, behavioral and metabolic responses to drug challenges generally show increases in DA responsivity (except adolescents) perhaps due to the activational effects of estrogen and/or decreases in serotonin (5-HT) mediated regulation of DA function. We have found that a significant factor in the hyper-responsivity of the female is the role of the testing environment and the responses to stress which can obscure underlying neurochemical dysregulation. Whether parallel factors are operational in adult males and females is currently under investigation.