“These results differ somewhat from our previous study conducted with male rats. Early life stress produces a greater increase in cocaine self-administration in female versus male rats.”
“The results of the cocaine self-administration study along with our previous work demonstrating enduring effects of neonatal isolation in female rats point to the possibility that women with early life stress experience may be at increased risk of initiating and maintaining drug addiction. The fact that early isolation enhances responding for food in female rats, but not male rats, may provide an insight into the role of early life stress on gender differences in vulnerability to develop eating disorders.”
