In:
European Journal of Neuroscience, Wiley, Vol. 50, No. 3 ( 2019-08), p. 2477-2491
Kurzfassung:
Drug use leads to addiction in some individuals, but the underlying brain mechanisms that control the transition from casual drug use to an intractable substance use disorder ( SUD ) are not well understood. Gene x environment interactions such as the frequency of drug use and the type of substance used likely to promote maladaptive plastic changes in brain regions that are critical for controlling addiction‐related behavior. Epigenetics encompasses a broad spectrum of mechanisms important for regulating gene transcription that are not dependent on changes in DNA base pair sequences. This review focuses on the proteins and complexes contributing to epigenetic modifications in the nucleus accumbens ( NA c) following drug experience. We discuss in detail the three major mechanisms: histone acetylation and deacetylation, histone methylation, and DNA methylation. We discuss how drug use alters the regulation of the associated proteins regulating these processes and highlight how experimental manipulations of these proteins in the NA c can alter drug‐related behaviors. Finally, we discuss the ways that histone modifications and DNA methylation coordinate actions by recruiting large epigenetic enzyme complexes to aid in transcriptional repression. Targeting these multiprotein epigenetic enzyme complexes – and the individual proteins that comprise them – might lead to effective therapeutics to reverse or treat SUD s in patients.
Materialart:
Online-Ressource
ISSN:
0953-816X
,
1460-9568
Sprache:
Englisch
Verlag:
Wiley
Publikationsdatum:
2019
ZDB Id:
2005178-5
SSG:
12
