The examination of SG differences in PET neuroimaging of AUD is drastically understudied. To our knowledge, only five PET investigations in the last decade examined SG differences related to alcohol use or risk of AUD across the DA and opioid receptor systems. These studies implicate striatal regions and the amygdala as key regions vulnerable to alcohol use or in genetic risk of AUD. Results from these studies should be replicated in AUD populations and in larger samples, particularly AUD women, as they may have important implications for SG-based neural differences in the involvement of DA, KOR, and MOR in AUD. Further, SG differences in the neurochemical mechanisms underlying AUD may have implications for the efficacy of pharmacotherapeutics for AUD such as naltrexone, a non-selective opioid antagonist, which may be more effective in males compared to females with AUD (Garbutt et al., 2005).
