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Full-Text Articles in Psychology
Sex Differences In Ethanol Modulation Of Dopamine Release In The Mesolimbic Reward System, Mandy Parsons, Justin Bowman, Scott Steffensen
Sex Differences In Ethanol Modulation Of Dopamine Release In The Mesolimbic Reward System, Mandy Parsons, Justin Bowman, Scott Steffensen
Journal of Undergraduate Research
Alcohol abuse disorder is a ubiquitous problem affecting 15.1 million people in the United States, almost 10 million men and more than 15 million women (SAMHSA, 2015). The prevailing view of addiction, including alcohol addiction, is that an increase of the neurotransmitter dopamine in the nucleus accumbens within the brain has powerful rewarding effects. The purpose of this project was to evaluate the effects of alcohol on dopamine release in female rats during the three phases of the estrus cycle in order to determine if alcohol is more rewarding at different points in the female hormone cycle.