Gender Differences in Responses to Caffeine in Children and Adolescents

描述(申请人提供)：咖啡因是世界上使用最广泛的精神活性物质，其在儿童中的使用量正在增加。尽管咖啡因被认为是安全的，但大多数关于咖啡因影响的经验数据都是在成年人身上收集的。我们之前的研究，在NIDA的KO1的支持下，已经证明咖啡因对青少年的生理、情绪和能量摄入具有剂量依赖性的影响，并且男孩似乎比女孩对咖啡因的影响更敏感。以下建议描述了一系列实验室研究，旨在调查这些性别差异的机制，包括青春期发育、类固醇激素浓度、月经周期阶段和腺苷受体基因型别。这些研究很重要，因为它们将提供关于咖啡因对儿童和青少年影响的急需信息，并确定影响性别差异的机制，以应对咖啡因和其他滥用药物的反应。 与公共健康相关：我们之前的研究表明，咖啡因对青少年的影响因性别而异。这项建议使用多层次的发展方法来调查儿童和青少年性别差异背后的机制。这些研究的发现将有助于阐明对咖啡因和其他滥用药物反应的性别差异的基本机制，并将提高我们识别将个人置于更高药物使用和滥用风险的因素的能力。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Caffeine is the most widely used psychoactive substance in the world and its use is increasing among children. Although considered safe, the majority of empirical data on the effects of caffeine have been collected in adults. Our previous studies, supported by a KO1 from NIDA, have demonstrated that caffeine has dose-dependent effects on physiological, mood, and energy intake in adolescents and that boys appear to be more sensitive to the effects of caffeine than girls. The following proposal describes a series of laboratory studies aimed at investigating the mechanisms underlying these gender differences, including pubertal development, steroid hormone concentrations, menstrual cycle phase, and adenosine receptor genotypes. These studies are important because they will provide much needed information on the effects of caffeine in children and adolescents as well as identify mechanisms that influence gender differences in response to caffeine and, perhaps, other drugs of abuse. PUBLIC HEALTH RELEVANCE: Our previous research suggests that the effects of caffeine in adolescents vary by gender. This proposal uses a multi-level, developmental approach to investigate the mechanisms underlying these gender differences in children and adolescents. The findings from these studies will help elucidate basic mechanisms that underlie gender differences in the response to caffeine and, perhaps other drugs of abuse and will improve our ability to identify factors that place individuals at higher risk for drug use and abuse.