Lancaster F E
Department of Biology, Texas Woman's University, Denton 76204, USA.
Recent Dev Alcohol. 1995;12:209-15.
The reasons for gender differences in alcohol intake, responses to alcohol, and consequences of alcohol abuse in humans and in animals are poorly understood. Animal models for the study of alcoholism have been focused primarily on the study of male rodents, although researchers have observed that female rodents drink more alcohol than males and have sex-related differences in drinking patterns and responses to alcohol. In humans, the difference between the sexes is the opposite of rodents, with males drinking more than females. These results suggest differences between the sexes and differences between humans and rodents in drinking behavior and responses to alcohol which may be based on a complex interaction of social, genetic, hormonal, neurobiologic, and environmental factors. Four new studies are introduced to identify sex-distinct genetic influences in alcohol-related phenotypes, sex-based differences in behavioral responses to alcohol, sex differences in responses of brain reward systems to alcohol, and interactions of the anxiolytic effects of alcohol with steroids and the estrous cycle.
人类和动物在酒精摄入量、对酒精的反应以及酒精滥用后果方面存在性别差异，但其原因仍知之甚少。尽管研究人员观察到雌性啮齿动物比雄性饮用更多酒精，且在饮酒模式和对酒精的反应方面存在性别差异，但酗酒研究的动物模型主要集中在雄性啮齿动物上。在人类中，两性差异与啮齿动物相反，男性饮酒量多于女性。这些结果表明，在饮酒行为和对酒精的反应方面，人类和啮齿动物之间以及两性之间存在差异，这可能基于社会、遗传、激素、神经生物学和环境因素的复杂相互作用。本文介绍了四项新研究，以确定酒精相关表型中性别特异性的遗传影响、对酒精行为反应的性别差异、大脑奖赏系统对酒精反应的性别差异，以及酒精的抗焦虑作用与类固醇和发情周期的相互作用。
