Women can blame their cocaine addictions on their biology, according to a new study that claims that ladies are more susceptible to the drug’s addictive qualities.
Hormonal fluctuations during the menstrual cycle, specifically spikes in estrogen, intensify the drug’s pleasurable effects, according to researchers at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai on The Upper East Side.
“Our study will change the way we think about addiction research to emphasize the need to further understand female subjects, as most research on addiction has been conducted in male subjects,” the study’s lead author, Dr. Erin Calipari, said in a statement.
The study, published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications, used male and female mice to observe how cocaine affects the brain’s reward pathway.
Female mice exhibiting higher levels of estrogen had more dopamine released for longer periods of time — extending the effects of the drug, the researchers found.
“Females are experiencing more of a high, and it’s causing problems later because it’s so intense that they get more addicted,” Calipari told The Post.
She said her findings back up other research that found that while men make up a larger percentage of total drug addicts, women are more likely to stay hooked and unable to shake the habit.
“A lot of that is because males have more opportunity in society. They’re in situations where drugs are more available,” Calipari said. “But if you take that out, the timeline from first use to substance abuse is really fast for women.”
“At the height of the menstrual cycle, pleasure feelings are at their peak,” Calipari said, adding that women have estrogen spikes about 10 days out of the month.
And the same is true for humans, Calipari said, as mice’s brains have the same brain organization and dopamine system.
“Cocaine acts the exact same way in humans and mice. It’s just humans are more complicated,” she said.
Those involved with helping treat addicts need to realize that different methods may work better with different genders, she noted.
“We need to consider sex as a variable when talking about addiction treatments. We need to have more specialized treatment for drug abusers because the mechanisms that are driving the addiction are likely different,” Calipari said.
Calipari is now expanding her current research to determine whether birth control pills can help female addicts, since the medication would regulate hormone levels, and cut down the intensity of the estrogen spikes.