Alcohol and tobacco consumption alter hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis DNA methylation.

ABSTRACT: Alcohol and cigarette consumption have profound effects on genome wide DNA methylation and are common, often cryptic, comorbid features of many psychiatric disorders. This cryptic consumption is a possible impediment to understanding the biology of certain psychiatric disorders because if the effects of substance use are not taken into account, their presence may confound efforts to identify effects of other behavioral disorders. Since the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis is known to be dysregulated in these disorders, we examined the potential for confounding effects of alcohol and cigarette consumption by examining their effects on peripheral DNA methylation at two key HPA axis genes, NR3C1 and FKBP5. We found that the influence of alcohol and smoke exposure is more prominent at

SUBMITTER: Dogan MV 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4788520 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature