Testosterone administration, 600 mg/wk increased ratings of manic symptoms in normal men. This effect, however, was not uniform across individuals; most showed little psychological change, whereas a few developed prominent effects. The mechanism of these variable reactions remains unclear.
Gender differences after acute cocaine administration have received little attention in spite of the fact that males and females respond differently to many drugs. Seven male and seven female occasional cocaine users received both an intranasal dose of cocaine hydrochloride (0.9 mg/kg) and placebo powder in a randomized order and reported subjective effects via an instrumental joystick device and various questionnaires. Blood samples were withdrawn at 5-min intervals to assess pharmacokinetic differences. Male subjects achieved the highest peak plasma cocaine levels (144.4 +/- 17.5 ng/ml), detected cocaine effects significantly faster than females and also experienced a greater number of episodes of intense good and bad effects. Women studied during the follicular phase of their menstrual cycle had peak plasma cocaine levels of 73.2 +/- 9.9 ng/ml, which was significantly higher than when they were studied during their luteal phase (54.7 +/- 8.7 ng/ml), but there were no differences in their subjective reports of cocaine effects. In spite of the different cocaine blood levels and subjective effects, peak heart rate increases did not differ between males and females suggesting that women may be more sensitive than males to the cardiovascular effects of cocaine. These data suggest that there are significant gender and menstrual cycle differences in the response to acute intranasal cocaine administration and these differences may have implications for the differential abuse of this drug.
Although marijuana is the most commonly used illicit drug in the United States, it is not established whether withdrawal from chronic use results in a clinically significant abstinence syndrome. The present study was conducted to characterize symptoms associated with marijuana withdrawal following chronic use during a supervised 28-day abstinence period. Three groups of participants were studied: (a) current chronic marijuana users, (b) former chronic marijuana users who had not used marijuana for at least 6 months prior to the study, and (c) marijuana nonusers. Current users experienced significant increases in anxiety, irritability, physical tension, and physical symptoms and decreases in mood and appetite during marijuana withdrawal. These symptoms were most pronounced during the initial 10 days of abstinence, but some were present for the entire 28-day withdrawal period. These findings support the notion of a marijuana withdrawal syndrome in humans.
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