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Epigenetics: a link between addiction and social environment

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Abstract

The detrimental effects of drug abuse are apparently not limited to individuals but may also impact the vulnerability of their progenies to develop addictive behaviours. Epigenetic signatures, early life experience and environmental factors, converge to influence gene expression patterns in addiction phenotypes and consequently may serve as mediators of behavioural trait transmission between generations. The majority of studies investigating the role of epigenetics in addiction do not consider the influence of social interactions. This shortcoming in current experimental approaches necessitates developing social models that reflect the addictive behaviour in a free-living social environment. Furthermore, this review also reports on the advancement of interventions for drug addiction and takes into account the emerging roles of histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors in the etiology of drug addiction and that HDAC may be a potential therapeutic target at nucleosomal level to improve treatment outcomes.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to express our appreciation to the College of Health Sciences (CHS) of University of KwaZulu-Natal for granting a PhD Scholarship to D.C Ajonijebu and a postdoctoral fellowship to O. Abboussi. The authors also wish to acknowledge the National Research Foundation (NRF) of South Africa who supports the research of MV Mabandla and WMU Daniels.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Discipline of Human Physiology, School of Laboratory Medicine and Medical Sciences, College of Health Sciences, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 4000, South Africa

    Duyilemi C. Ajonijebu, Oualid Abboussi, Vivienne A. Russell, Musa V. Mabandla & William M. U. Daniels

  2. School of Physiology, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa

    William M. U. Daniels

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  1. Duyilemi C. Ajonijebu
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  2. Oualid Abboussi
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  3. Vivienne A. Russell
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  4. Musa V. Mabandla
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  5. William M. U. Daniels
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Correspondence to Oualid Abboussi.

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Ajonijebu, D.C., Abboussi, O., Russell, V.A. et al. Epigenetics: a link between addiction and social environment. Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 74, 2735–2747 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-017-2493-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-017-2493-1

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