Sex and ovarian hormone cycles alter effects of stimulant drugs on mouse dopaminergic signaling
Brooke A. Christensen·Erin S. Calipari·Maxime Chevée·Soren D. Emerson·Michael Z. Leonard·Jennifer Tat·Lillian J. Brady·Eleanor B. Holmgren·Devan M. Gomez·Ainoa Konomi-Pilkati·Shannon Roberts·Abigail L. Carr·Sofia H. Lago·Lin Zheng·Hye Jean Yoon·Hannah B. Elam
Stimulant medications are widely prescribed for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and have significant abuse liability. Here we show that - consistent with clinical data - females exhibit enhanced behavioral sensitivity to stimulants and define sex- and hormone-dependent adaptations in the dopamine system that contribute to these effects. Single-nucleus RNA sequencing of ventral tegmental area dopamine neurons revealed that projections to the nucleus accumbens (NAc) core - compared