Addictions are public health menaces. However, despite advances in addiction research, the cellular or molecular mechanisms that cause transition from recreational use to addiction remain to be elucidated. We have recently suggested that addiction may be secondary to long-term epigenetic modifications that determine the clinical course of substance use disorders. A better understanding of epigenetic mechanisms in animal models that mimic human conditions should help to usher in a new area of drug development against addiction.
Published 2016. This article is a US Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.