نقش استروژن در پيشگيري از اعتياد به مورفين در موش صحرايي ماده اواركتومي شده

Role of Estrogen on Prevention of Morphine Addiction in Ovarectomized Female Rats

Introduction & Objective: Evidence indicates that the biological response and the causes of drug abuse may be different between women and men. These sex differences in drug abuse may be due to socio-cultural factors or biological (hormonal) differences. Estrogen is one of the hormones which involves in dopamine release in striatum and nucleus accumbency and also is one of the most important neurotransmitters in central nervous system which has critical role in morphine addiction. So, in this study we survey the role of estrogen on dependency and tendency to morphine in rat as a factor of sex differences in addiction. Materials & Methods: This experimental study was carried out in Yazd University of Medical Sciences. Behavioral changes like morphine craving was evaluated by self-administration as a criterion for tendency and for assessment of dependency, we evaluated withdrawal syndrome sings (e.g. jumping, wet dog shaking, etc) in control group (ovarectomized female rats receiving morphine sulfate solution) and test group (ovarectomized female rats, pretreated with estradiol benzoate before receiving daily morphine sulfate solution). Data obtained were analyzed by SPSS software, using T-test analysis Results: Results showed that although pretreatment with estradiol in test group might lead to a significant decline in withdrawal syndrome sings in comparison with control group, differences in morphine craving as a criterion for tendency was not significant between the two groups. Conclusion: According to our findings, it seems that estrogen, through central mechanisms and its effect on brain dopaminergic system, reduces the physical dependency to morphine.