Vodka and wine ruin brain genes: are these changes reversible?

Karla Kaun of Brown University, a neurogeneticist who studies the mechanisms of addiction, writes that over the past decade the picture has become clearer, largely due to a better understanding of how genes are dynamically regulated in the brain. New ways of thinking about the development of addictions can change the way treatment is approached.

Alcohol and drugs affect the activity of genes in the brain

Every brain cell has your genetic code stored in long strands of DNA. In order for all this DNA to fit into a cell, it must be well packaged. This is achieved by wrapping DNA around “protein coils” called histones. The areas where DNA is unwound contain active genes that code for proteins that perform important functions in the cell.

When the activity of genes changes, the proteins produced by cells also change. Such changes can affect a single neuronal connection in the brain, but they can also be so extensive that they affect behavior. This genetic choreography suggests that the genes that turn on or off when learning new things are dynamic and adapt to daily needs.

Recent studies in animal models have shown that alcohol and drugs directly influence changes in gene expression in areas of the brain that help control memory and self-rewarding behaviors.

How tightly DNA is wrapped or bound to histones and other proteins determines which genes are expressed, or which genes are active and which proteins are produced, in each neuron in the brain.

Addictive substances can alter genetic expression in several ways. They can change which proteins bind to DNA to turn genes on and off, and which segments of DNA are unraveled. They can alter the process by which DNA is read and translated into proteins, as well as alter proteins that determine how cells use energy to function.

2024-01-23 12:40:00
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