NIH R01 · 2025
Estradiol signaling pathways mediating sex differences in striatal synaptic plasticity
Substance use disorders affect ~15% of the population, with gender differences in all stages of substance use. Female sex-steroid hormones explain some of the disparity, such as accelerated transition from casual use to addiction, as estradiol produces sex-specific differences in rodent learning and cocaine self-administration. Prolonged cocaine use is known to engage dorsal striatal circuits. Synaptic plasticity in such circuits is critical for a variety of types of reward learning, highlighting the potential role such plasticity could play in substance use disorders. Thus, understanding sex differences in cocaine use requires determining how estradiol impacts molecular signaling and…
From the public funding record at NIH RePORTER. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.