New data suggests that nicotine during pregnancy alters genes

The biomedical research team Akay Lab at the University of Houston is published in the journal Nature Scientific reports that a possible treatment of addiction can be found following the pathways of dopaminergic neurons significantly altered in neonates chronically exposed to nicotine in utero. The altered neurons were discovered from dopaminergic and non-dopaminergic neuron recordings in the brain addiction treatment center, called the ventral tegmental area (VTA), as a result of chronic exposure to nicotine during pregnancy.

Metin Akay, John S. Dunn Chair, Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Department Chair, and his research team noted that dopaminergic neurons, in response to nicotine exposure during pregnancy, were significantly activated , allowing the release of exceptionally high levels of dopamine in the body. prefrontal cortex.

Active dopamine, known as the hormone "feel good", may seem like a good thing at first glance. It is a neurotransmitter that carries information between neurons and regulates emotional responses. This allows us to see the rewards and encourages the action that will lead to the reward, but as it contributes to these feelings of pleasure and reward, it also plays a role in addiction.

"The affected dopamine can cause babies to become addicted to nicotine, but once we understand which genes are altered, which networks of gene regulators are altered and which gene pathways are altered, we can develop a targeted drug that could eliminate addiction in offspring, "said Akay.

Exposure to nicotine during pregnancy through maternal smoking or nicotine replacement therapy is badociated with adverse birth outcomes as well as several cognitive and neurodevelopmental deficits. behavioral.

The Akay laboratory has previously published work indicating that dopamine neurons in VTA are most likely involved in nicotine addiction. Their current work deals with the very nature of health, exploring how the dopamine of an offspring exposed to nicotine alters the expression of genes, a fundamental component of health. Many diseases are caused by a change in the DNA of a single gene.

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