Regulation of a single, specific gene in a brain region related to drug addiction and depression is sufficient to reduce drug and stress responses, according to a study conducted at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai and published October 27 online in the journal Nature Neuroscience.
The Mount Sinai study focuses on epigenetics, the study of changes in the action of human genes caused, not by changes in DNA code we inherit from our parents, but instead by molecules that regulate when, where and to what degree our genetic material is activated.
Previous research has found links between epigenetic regulation and the diseases of drug addiction and depression, in both human patients and animal models. Such regulation derives, in part, from the function of transcription factors, specialized proteins that bind to specific DNA sequences and either encourage or shut down the expression of a given gene.
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