Methamphetamine-associated memory is regulated by a writer and an eraser of permissive histone methylation.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Memories associated with drugs of abuse, such as methamphetamine (METH), increase relapse vulnerability to substance use disorder by triggering craving. The nucleus accumbens (NAc) is essential to these drug-associated memories, but underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Posttranslational chromatin modifications, such as histone methylation, modulate gene transcription; thus, we investigated the role of the associated epigenetic modifiers in METH-associated memory.

Methods

Conditioned place preference was used to assess the epigenetic landscape in the NAc supporting METH-associated memory (n = 79). The impact of histone methylation (H3K4me2/3) on the formation and expression of METH-associated memory was determined by focal, intra-NAc knockdown (KD) of a wri

SUBMITTER: Aguilar-Valles A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4024089 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature