Amphetamine causes transgenerational effects

虽然家族史是吸毒成瘾的最大危险因素之一， 对这些疾病的遗传和表观遗传基础仍然知之甚少。越来越多的 有证据表明，许多滥用药物，如安非他明或可卡因， 在药物暴露后出现短暂的基因表达改变。然而，没有研究 已经进行了迄今阐明的影响，重复给药可以 在后代中产生。因为药物成瘾是一种高度遗传的疾病， 关键是要研究滥用药物引起的基因表达改变是否同样 可以传递给后代。这将涉及稳定的表观遗传修饰， 在后代中持续存在并影响成瘾脆弱性。 这项拨款提案的中心目标是调查 安非他明对多巴胺能突触的作用特别是，我们调查了跨代 影响安非他明引起的多巴胺转运蛋白和多巴胺受体， 这些蛋白质是滥用药物如安非他明和可卡因的重要靶点， 奖励途径的核心参与者。我们假设通过触发表观遗传 负责调节大脑反应的基因和途径的变化 安非他明，与这种精神兴奋剂有关的行为和生理变化， 传给后代。我们的建议是研究 由安非他明诱导，通过后代传递（目标2），包括 一个彻底的功能调查安非他明如何改变活动的关键球员， 子代多巴胺能系统（Aim 1）。重要的是，由于表观遗传机制是动态的， 和可逆的，我们还设计了一个计划，我们测试如果药物干预， 抑制表观遗传修饰的特定药物， 苯丙胺诱导（目标3）。

Although family history represents one of the greatest risk factors for drug addiction, the genetic and epigenetic basis for such illnesses remains poorly understood. A growing body of evidence indicates that many drugs of abuse, such as amphetamine or cocaine, induce alterations in gene expression which appear transiently after drug exposure. However, no study has been conducted so far elucidating the effects that repeated drug administration can generate in subsequent generations. Because drug addiction is a highly heritable illness, it is crucial to examine whether altered gene expressions induced by drugs of abuse are likewise transmittable to future generations. This would involve stable, epigenetic modifications, which persist in offspring and affect addiction vulnerability. The central goal of this grant proposal is to investigate the trans-generational effects of amphetamine at the dopaminergic synapses. Particularly, we investigate the transgenerational effects amphetamine causes at the dopamine transporter and dopamine receptors because these proteins are important targets of drugs of abuse such amphetamine and cocaine, and are central key players of the reward pathway. We hypothesize that by triggering epigenetic changes in the genes and pathways responsible for mediating the brain’s response to amphetamine, behavioral and physiological changes associated with this psychostimulant are passed down to subsequent generations. Our proposal investigate the epigenetic changes induced by amphetamine that are passed through subsequent generations (Aim 2) and includes a thorough functional investigation of how amphetamine alters the activity of key players of the dopaminergic system in progeny (Aim 1). Importantly, as epigenetic mechanisms are dynamic and reversible, we also designed a plan in which we test if pharmacological intervention, with specific drugs that inhibit epigenetic modifications, prevents the transgenerational effects induced by amphetamine (Aim 3).