Sex, Dopamine, and Addiction: Rethinking Substance Use Disorders

Substance use disorders (SUD) arise from persistent molecular and circuit-level adaptations in dopaminergic reward pathways driven by chronic exposure to drugs of misuse, including opioids, psychostimulants (e.g., cocaine, amphetamines, nicotine), alcohol and cannabis.Despite growing recognition that biological sex shapes vulnerability to addiction, treatment response, and overdose risk, sex remains an understudied variable in the neuropharmacology of dopaminergic signaling and drug reward. This Research Topic brings together molecular, transcriptomic, epigenomic, and pharmacological approaches to dopaminergic dysfunction in addiction, with a particular focus on dopamine transporter (DAT) function and uptake kinetics, and how these mechanisms differ by sex.Topics covered include, but are not limited to:- Transcriptomic and epigenomic reprogramming of dopamine neurons following opioid or psychostimulant exposure- Dopamine transporter expression, regulation, and uptake kinetics in addiction- Sex differences in dopaminergic signaling, opioid receptor function, and reward circuitry- Hormonal modulation (estrogen, testosterone) of dopamine-related reward pathways- Sex-dependent overdose risk, drug tolerance, and polydrug interactions (e.g., opioid-benzodiazepine co-use)- Single-cell/single-nucleus profiling of human SUD brain tissue- Translational and neuroprotective strategies for addiction and relapse prevention, accounting for sex as a biological variable- Translational neuroimaging of reward, impulse control, and dopaminergic mechanisms in preclinical models and human subjects. Topic editors: Graciela Noemí Balerio, Marcelo Febo, Styliani (Stella) Vlachou Source: https://www.frontiersin.org/research-topics/86402/sex-dopamine-and-addiction-rethinking-substance-use-disorders