Sex and Gender Differences in the Effects of Novel Psychoactive Substances.
Brain sciences – September 03, 2020
Source: PubMed
Summary
Sex/gender differences profoundly shape drug responses. While men are more prone to using illicit drugs and experiencing intoxications, women are equally susceptible to developing substance use disorders and craving. This complexity extends to new synthetic drugs, with over 900 identified NPS, including cannabinoids, cathinones, opioids, and phenethylamines. Crucially, understanding how sex/gender differences influence the effects of these new psychoactive substances remains largely unexplored, leaving a significant gap in our knowledge of their diverse impacts.
Abstract
Sex and gender deeply affect the subjective effects and pharmaco-toxicological responses to drugs. Men are more likely than women to use almost all types of illicit drugs and to present to emergency departments for serious or fatal intoxications. However, women are just as likely as men to develop substance use disorders, and may be more susceptible to craving and relapse. Clinical and preclinical studies have shown important differences between males and females after administration of "classic" drugs of abuse (e.g., Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), morphine, cocaine). This scenario has become enormously complicated in the last decade with the overbearing appearance of the new psychoactive substances (NPS) that have emerged as alternatives to regulated drugs. To date, more than 900 NPS have been identified, and can be catalogued in different pharmacological categories including synthetic cannabinoids, synthetic stimulants (cathinones and amphetamine-like), hallucinogenic phenethylamines, synthetic opioids (fentanyls and non-fentanyls), new benzodiazepines and dissociative anesthetics (i.e., methoxetamine and phencyclidine-derivatives). This work collects the little knowledge reached so far on the effects of NPS in male and female animal and human subjects, highlighting how much sex and gender differences in the effects of NPS has yet to be studied and understood.