There is increasing evidence in humans and laboratory animals for biologically based sex
differences in every phase of drug addiction: acute reinforcing effects, transition from …

Opioid use kills tens of thousands of Americans each year, devastates families and entire
communities, and cripples the health care system. Exposure to opioids causes long-term …

An abundance of data indicates there are sex differences in endogenous opioid peptides
and opioid receptors, leading to functional differences in sensitivity to opioid receptor …

Use of prescription opioids, particularly oxycodone, is an initiating factor driving the current
opioid epidemic. There are several challenges with modelling oxycodone abuse. First …

Oxycodone, a semisynthetic derivative of naturally occurring thebaine, an opioid alkaloid,
has been available for more than 100 years. Although thebaine cannot be used …

Clinical evidence suggest that men are more sensitive than women to the abuse-related
effects of mu-opioid agonists. In contrast, preclinical studies suggest the opposite sex …

Withdrawal from opioids involves a negative affective state that promotes maintenance of
drug-seeking behavior and relapse. As such, understanding the neurobiological …

The origins and neural bases of the current opioid addiction epidemic are unclear. Genetics
plays a major role in addiction vulnerability, but cannot account for the recent exponential …

Rationale Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a major epidemic in the USA. Despite evidence
indicating that OUD may be particularly severe for women, preclinical models have yet to …

Rationale Over the last decade, oxycodone has become one of the most widely abused
drugs in the USA. Oxycodone use disorder (OUD) is a serious health problem that has …