AI Article Synopsis
- Opioid abuse has become the leading cause of accidental death in the US, prompting a need to understand the long-term changes in dopamine neurons that contribute to addiction and relapse.
- Researchers conducted a comprehensive analysis of gene expression changes in the midbrain related to human opioid abuse, uncovering specific genes and networks linked to addiction.
- The findings suggest that certain genes and long noncoding RNAs may serve as potential biomarkers or treatment targets for substance abuse disorders.
Article Abstract
Opioid abuse is now the most common cause of accidental death in the US. Although opioids and most other drugs of abuse acutely increase signaling mediated by midbrain dopamine (DA)-synthesizing neurons, little is known about long-lasting changes in DA cells that may contribute to continued opioid abuse, craving, and relapse. A better understanding of the molecular and cellular bases of opioid abuse could lead to advancements in therapeutics. This study comprises, to our knowledge, the first unbiased examination of genome-wide changes in midbrain gene expression associated with human opioid abuse. Our analyses identified differentially expressed genes and distinct gene networks associated with opioid abuse, specific genes with predictive capability for subject assignment to the opioid abuse cohort, and genes most similarly affected in chronic opioid and cocaine abusers. We also identified differentially expressed long noncoding RNAs capable of regulating known drug-responsive protein-coding genes. Opioid-regulated genes identified in this study warrant further investigation as potential biomarkers and/or therapeutic targets for human substance abuse.
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| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6367337 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-38209-8 | DOI Listing |
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