Have you ever questioned why some people can smoke cigarettes for a year before quitting, but others get addicted for life? Why are some people unable to stop consuming alcohol while others can do without it? One factor is a person’s hereditary predisposition to taking drugs.
Researchers at the UNC School of Medicine, under the direction of Hyejung Won, PhD, are beginning to understand these underlying genetic variations. The more they discover, the more likely it is that scientists can develop treatments to help the millions of people who fight addiction.
Vonn, assistant professor of genetics and a researcher at the UNC Neuroscience Center, and his team discovered a gene associated with alcohol drinking and cigarette smoking.
The scientists found that certain types of neurons—brain cells that cause other cells to send chemical messages to the brain—have an excess of these genes.
The researchers, whose findings were published in the journal Molecular
psychiatry, also found that the genes associated with smoking were
linked to the sensation of pain and how the body responds to food, in addition
For the use of other drugs such as cocaine.
Stress, learning, and use of other drugs such as morphine were also associated with other genes associated with alcohol use.
The researchers also assessed publicly accessible pharmacological databases to find potential novel treatments for the substance.
abuse because there are currently few options for substance abuse treatment
disorders.
According to Nancy C., a graduate student in the Won Lab and the paper’s first
author, “We found that antipsychotics and other mood stabilizers may
Able to offer medical treatment for people struggling with substance abuse
Misappropriate”.
and we are sure that our research will serve as a solid platform to study
With the aim of developing more effective drug addiction treatments.
Many prevalent diseases and problems, including lung cancer, liver
disease, and mental illnesses, have long been related to substance abuse
and substance use disorder.
However, there are not many medical options, mainly because we do not fully understand the underlying molecular mechanisms.
According to Vonn, “twin studies have shown that, in addition to relevant”
Factors such as family dynamics or personal trauma, genetics may also play a role.
Why some people use and abuse drugs.”
Vonn said that by comparing individuals who display a trait against those who
No, researchers can use GWAS to pinpoint specific regions in the genome
who contribute to that facility. However, genome-wide research cannot provide
More about how genes affect a trait in those regions. this is
Because these regions are often found in the “non-coding” of the genome
region.
The term “non-coding” describes how genes in these regions are not immediately transferred – or “coded” – in their genetic information production.
of proteins, which then perform a recognized biological function. so it
still largely unknown what biological processes occur in these “non-“
coding” area.
We wanted to know what was happening in these areas, Won said. Therefore, we created High-Coupled Magma (H-MAGMA), a computational tool
Aid in our efforts to better understand the results of our genome-wide research.
In a previous study, Won’s lab demonstrated how to use H-magma to study
Brain diseases may reveal genes that are linked to them as well
their underlying biology.
Her lab expanded the equipment for this particular paper to include drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes.
They created the H-magma framework from cortical neurons and dopaminergic
Neurons, two classes of brain cells that have long been associated with substance abuse.
c, Won’s team, led by an HHMI Gilliam Fellow, focused on those two cell types and used H-magma to analyze GWAS results related to heavy drinking, heavy smoking, nicotine dependence, and problematic alcohol use. in order to determine the gene responsible for each feature. ,
Genes associated with alcohol use and cigarette smoking were also associated with
Genes for cocaine and morphine use.
Although the opioid epidemic has had a negative social impact, there is currently no well-run GWAS on cocaine and opioid use.
Therefore, Vonn’s team investigated whether genes associated with alcohol consumption and cigarette smoking could provide insights into the genetics of common addiction behavior and genetic discoveries that could be generalized to other addictive drugs.
Our investigation has shown that other substances, such as cocaine, can affect
Expression of genes associated with characteristics related to cigarette smoking
and alcohol use, according to Won.
We will be able to determine the basic mechanisms behind addiction by describing the biological function of these genes, which can be generalized to a variety of substance use disorders.
Won’s team also discovered other cell types, such as cortical glutamatergic,
midbrain dopaminergic, GABAergic, and serotonergic neurons that are
In addition to the different types of excitatory neurons, risk is linked to genes.
With these results in hand, UNC researchers and others can now look into
Chemicals that greatly reduce the likelihood of addiction.
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