NIAAA Spectrum Spotlight: Sex Differences in Addiction Research

Recent NIH-wide efforts to address sex differences in preclinical research underscore the importance of such issues to scientists who study alcohol addiction.

 

“In fact, animal models of alcohol addiction reveal significant differences between males and females,” says NIAAA Director George F. Koob, Ph.D., “but we have little data thus far to help us understand the neurobiological mechanisms for those differences.”

 

NIAAA’s increased emphasis on research in this area will be informed by a timely new review article, co-authored by Dr. Koob and Dr. Jill Becker of the University of Michigan, titled, “Sex Differences in Animal Models: Focus on Addiction.” Published in the April 2016 issue of the journal Pharmacological Reviews, the article discusses ways to think about and study sex differences in preclinical animal models.

 

“We use the framework of addiction to illustrate the importance of considering sex differences,” says Dr. Koob, “and we have outlined major quantitative, population, and mechanistic sex differences in the addiction domain. We also emphasize the need for new studies to help us understand those differences.”

 

Reference:

Becker, J.B., and Koob, G.F. Sex differences in animal models: Focus on addiction. Pharmacological Reviews 68(2):242–263, 2016. PMID: 26772794