BioProject

Midbrain dopamine (DA)-synthesizing neurons play a key role in the addiction process, providing a compelling rationale for determining drug-induced molecular changes arising in these cells. More...

Midbrain dopamine (DA)-synthesizing neurons play a key role in the addiction process, providing a compelling rationale for determining drug-induced molecular changes arising in these cells. This microarray-based study determined the profiles of midbrain gene expression in chronic cocaine abusers (n = 10) and well-matched drug-free control subjects (n = 10). Array-related procedures were performed in triplicate for each subject. Data analysis revealed that 98 array probes (corresponding to 91 genes) exhibited robust, statistically significant expression differences between chronic cocaine abusers and matched control subjects (p ≤ 0.05, FDR = 5%; with ≥ 1.4 fold-change cut-off applied). Changes in transcript abundance identified by microarray were validated by qPCR analysis in every instance examined (n = 11), regardless of the direction or magnitude of change, supporting the validity of the larger dataset of genes differentially expressed in cocaine abusers. Many of the genes exhibiting robust differential expression were associated with the regulation of transcription, chromatin function, or dopamine cell phenotype. For approximately one-half of these genes, transcript abundance was significantly predictive for subject assignment to the cocaine-abusing versus control cohort. The findings suggest that there is a molecular signature associated with core pathophysiological changes in the DA neurons of chronic cocaine abusers that can be exploited for the development of potential biomarkers and novel therapeutic targets for addiction. Overall design: Human post-mortem midbrain gene expression derived from cocaine-related deaths are compared to midbrain gene expression of non-cocaine related deaths. Each subject was was arrayed in triplicates. Less...