Caffeine Counters Cocaine’s Effects on Women’s Estrus Cycles

NEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. - Nov. 20, 2014 - PRLog -- Women are more sensitive to the effects of cocaine and more susceptible to cocaine abuse than men. Cocaine’s ability to disrupt a woman’s estrus cycle may explain the sex differences in cocaine addiction, and new evidence that caffeine may be neuroprotective and able to block cocaine’s direct effects on the estrus cycle reveals novel treatment possibilities, according to an article published in Journal of Caffeine Research: The International Multidisciplinary Journal of Caffeine Science, a peer-reviewed journal from Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers. The article is available free on the Journal of Caffeine Research website at http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/jcr.2014.0015 until December 20, 2014.

In the article “Cocaine Shifts the Estrus Cycle Out of Phase and Caffeine Restores It” (http://online.liebertpub.com/doi/full/10.1089/jcr.2014.0015), Patricia Broderick, PhD and Lauren Malave, City College of New York, City University of New York Graduate Center, City University of New York, and NYU Langone Medical Center, New York, NY, show that cocaine shifts the estrus cycle, thereby changing a woman’s estrogen levels. Caffeine can block these changes, suggesting that antagonists of the adenosine system may have a role in treating cocaine addiction.

“This is cutting-edge work that has never been shown before. It is critical knowledge relevant to women's reproductive health,” says Patricia A. Broderick, PhD, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Caffeine Research and Medical Professor in Physiology, Pharmacology & Neuroscience, The Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, The City College of New York, The City University of New York, and Adjunct Professor in Neurology, New York University Langone Medical Center and Comprehensive Epilepsy Center.

About the Journal
Journal of Caffeine Research: The International Multidisciplinary Journal of Caffeine Science is a quarterly journal published in print and online. The Journal covers the effects of caffeine on a wide range of diseases and conditions, including mood disorders, neurological disorders, cognitive performance, cardiovascular disease, and sports performance. Journal of Caffeine Research explores all aspects of caffeine science including the biochemistry of caffeine; its actions on the human body; benefits, dangers, and contraindications; and caffeine addiction and withdrawal, across all stages of the human life span from prenatal exposure to end-of-life. Tables of content and a sample issue may be viewed on the Journal of Caffeine Research website at http://www.liebertpub.com/jcr.

About the Publisher
Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers is a privately held, fully integrated media company known for establishing authoritative peer-reviewed journals in many promising areas of science and biomedical research, including Breastfeeding Medicine, Journal of Medicinal Food, and Journal of Child and Adolescent Psychopharmacology. Its biotechnology trade magazine, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (GEN), was the first in its field and is today the industry's most widely read publication worldwide. A complete list of the firm's 80 journals, books, and newsmagazines is available on the Mary Ann Liebert, Inc., publishers website at http://www.liebertpub.com.