Topic: estrus phase

Drug addiction is characterized by long-lasting risk of relapse even after long abstinence periods. Historically, addiction research mainly focused on males, generalizing the findings to females. However, clinical and preclinical studies revealed sex differences in cocaine relapse. Indeed, our previous study revealed a higher cue-induced cocaine seeking in female than male rats, an effect dependent on the hormonal cycle. Females were more vulnerable to cue-induced cocaine seeking during the estrus phase characterized by low progesterone levels, compared to females in non-estrus phase with high