Alcohol and drugs change how your genes work

+ New Hampshire's independent voters US Edition - Today's top story: Alcohol and drugs rewire your brain by changing how your genes work – research is investigating how to counteract addiction's effects [View in browser]( US Edition | 22 January 2024 [The Conversation] [The Conversation]( Top headlines - [Unbanked Americans reckon with an increasingly cashless economy]( - [Less than 1% of trans people regret their surgeries]( - [The child tax credit is close to expanding]( Lead story Addiction has a genetic basis – not just in how certain genes can influence the risk of developing a substance use disorder, but also in how alcohol and drugs themselves can change how your genes work. Behavioral neurogeneticist Karla Kaun has spent the past decade studying the molecular underpinnings of addiction, dissecting how [alcohol and drugs affect genes in the brain](. Researchers know these effects are often centered on areas of the brain involved in reward and memory, but disentangling the interplay between the various factors that can modify genes, including exposure to addictive substances, is a complex challenge. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing. “Rather than discouraging researchers, this complexity is empowering because it provides evidence that changes to gene expression in your brain aren’t permanent,” Kaun writes. “They can also be altered by medications and lifestyle choices.” [ [Understand what’s going on in Washington and around the world. Get our Politics Weekly newsletter.]( ] Vivian Lam Associate Health and Biomedicine Editor Alcohol and other drugs can overpower the reward pathways of the brain. Simona Dumitru/Moment via Getty Images [Alcohol and drugs rewire your brain by changing how your genes work – research is investigating how to counteract addiction’s effects]( Karla Kaun, Brown University Improved understanding of the molecular mechanisms of addiction can change how researchers and clinicians approach treatments. 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They’ve now become the 5th country to have landed on its surface. - [Breaking down fat byproducts could lead to healthier aging − researchers identify a key enzyme that does just that]( Eyleen Jorgelina O'Rourke, University of Virginia Although you get your fatty acid levels routinely checked at the doctor’s, rarely do clinicians and researchers consider the effects of their potentially harmful byproducts. Health + Medicine - [Untrained bystanders can administer drone-delivered naloxone, potentially saving lives of opioid overdose victims]( Nicole Adams, Purdue University The study discovered that nonmedical personnel can provide the naloxone to an overdose victim in about one minute. 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