QBI Seminar: DNA methylation: an epigenetic watermark of cocaine self-administration

Event Details

Date:

Wednesday, 15 April 2015 - Wednesday, 15 April 2015

Time:

12:00 pm - 1:00 pm

Room:

QBI Level 7 Auditorium

UQ Location:

Queensland Brain Institute (St Lucia)

URL:

http://www.qbi.uq.edu.au/neuroscience-seminars

Event category(s):

Full Description:: Danay Baker-Andresen
Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland
Title: DNA methylation: an epigenetic watermark of cocaine self-administration

Abstract:
A key feature of cocaine addiction is the pathological overlearning of the association between cues in the drug use environment, such as drug-related paraphernalia, and the rewarding effects of the drug. Memories of these associations are extraordinarily persistent and, when reactivated, can trigger cocaine craving and relapse despite prolonged abstinence. However, how cocaine-associated memories are perpetuated in the brain in the face of rapid transcriptional and proteomic degradation remains enigmatic. One possibility is that cocaine self-administration leads to enduring modifications of the epigenome, which in turn regulate the expression of genes that underlie the maintenance of cocaine-related memories and cocaine-seeking behaviour. In this talk, I will explore how long-lasting modifications of DNA methylation may beget an enduring vulnerability to relapse and discuss several changes in DNA methylation observed using a mouse model of cocaine self-administration.