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Protracted abstinence from distinct drugs of abuse shows regulation of a common gene network
Author(s) -
Le Merrer Julie,
Befort Katia,
Gardon Olivier,
Filliol Dominique,
Darcq Emmanuel,
Dembele Doulaye,
Becker Jerome A. J.,
Kieffer Brigitte L.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
addiction biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.445
H-Index - 78
eISSN - 1369-1600
pISSN - 1355-6215
DOI - 10.1111/j.1369-1600.2011.00365.x
Subject(s) - abstinence , craving , addiction , nicotine , dysphoria , psychology , substance abuse , amygdala , psychiatry , drug , neuroscience , medicine , clinical psychology , anxiety
Addiction is a chronic brain disorder. Prolonged abstinence from drugs of abuse involves dysphoria, high stress responsiveness and craving. The neurobiology of drug abstinence, however, is poorly understood. We previously identified a unique set of hundred mu‐opioid receptor‐dependent genes in the extended amygdala, a key site for hedonic and stress processing in the brain. Here we examined these candidate genes either immediately after chronic morphine, nicotine, Δ9‐tetrahydrocannabinol or alcohol, or following 4 weeks of abstinence. Regulation patterns strongly differed among chronic groups. In contrast, gene regulations strikingly converged in the abstinent groups and revealed unforeseen common adaptations within a novel huntingtin‐centered molecular network previously unreported in addiction research. This study demonstrates that, regardless the drug, a specific set of transcriptional regulations develops in the abstinent brain, which possibly contributes to the negative affect characterizing protracted abstinence. This transcriptional signature may represent a hallmark of drug abstinence and a unitary adaptive molecular mechanism in substance abuse disorders.