Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, McGill University Medical School, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, McGill University Medical School, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Prog Mol Biol Transl Sci. 2018;157:93-104. doi: 10.1016/bs.pmbts.2018.01.003. Epub 2018 Apr 11.
Drug addiction is a devastating health problem that is a very heavy burden on the individual affected and the society in general. Recent research defines addiction as a neurobehavioral disorder. Underpinning biological mechanisms of drug addiction are abnormal neuronal and brain activity following acute and repeated drug exposure. Abnormal gene expression is found in reward and decision-making brain regions of addicts and in animal models and is possibly responsible for changes in brain function. DNA methylation is an epigenetic modification that regulates gene expression. Global and site-specific changes in DNA methylation are observed in addiction. Here, we discuss recent findings on the involvement of DNA methylation in drug addiction from animal and human studies. We also propose future directions for utilizing DNA methylation-based approaches for diagnosis, therapeutics, and evaluation of response to therapy in drug addiction.
药物成瘾是一种严重的健康问题，对个体和整个社会都造成了沉重的负担。最近的研究将成瘾定义为一种神经行为障碍。药物成瘾的潜在生物学机制是急性和反复药物暴露后神经元和大脑活动异常。在成瘾者的奖励和决策大脑区域以及动物模型中发现了异常的基因表达，这可能是导致大脑功能改变的原因。DNA 甲基化是一种调节基因表达的表观遗传修饰。在成瘾中观察到 DNA 甲基化的全局和特定部位的变化。在这里，我们讨论了来自动物和人类研究中 DNA 甲基化在药物成瘾中的作用的最新发现。我们还提出了利用 DNA 甲基化方法进行药物成瘾的诊断、治疗和治疗反应评估的未来方向。
