Epigenetic Mechanisms of Drug Addiction.

Epigenetic mechanisms of drug addiction.

Filed under: Addiction Rehab

Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2013 Jan 29;
Feng J, Nestler EJ

Epigenetic regulation can mediate long-lasting changes in gene expression, which makes it an attractive mechanism for the stable behavioral abnormalities that characterize drug addiction. Recent research has unveiled numerous types of epigenetic modifications within the brain’s reward circuitry in animal models of drug addiction. In this review, we summarize the latest advances in the field, focusing on histone modifications, DNA methylation, and noncoding RNAs. We also highlight several areas for future research. Unraveling the highly complex epigenetic mechanisms of addiction is adding to our understanding of this syndrome and has the potential to trigger novel approaches for better diagnosis and therapy.
HubMed – addiction

Recent developments in animal models of drug relapse.

Filed under: Addiction Rehab

Curr Opin Neurobiol. 2013 Jan 29;
Marchant NJ, Li X, Shaham Y

Drug craving and relapse to drug use during abstinence are defining features of addiction. Evidence indicates that drug craving and relapse in humans are often provoked by acute exposure to the self-administered drug, drug-associated cues, or stress. During the last two decades, this clinical scenario has been primarily studied at the preclinical level using the classical reinstatement model. However, a single preclinical model cannot capture the complicated nature of human drug relapse. Therefore, more recently, we and others have developed several other models to study different facets of human drug relapse. In this review, we introduce and discuss recent findings from these other relapse models, including incubation of drug craving, reacquisition and resurgence models, and punishment-based and conflict-based relapse models.
HubMed – addiction

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