News Section | Genetics
Midbrain’s habenula determines nicotine dependence
Scientists have discovered that a person”s vulnerability to nicotine addiction may have a genetic basis, with a region in the midbrain called the ‘habenula’ playing the key role.
“Two years ago, studies indicated that genetic variations in a specific gene cluster are risk factors for nicotine dependence and lung cancer,” said Dr. Ibañez-Tallon from Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine, Berlin-Buch, Germany.
Tallon and her team have now elucidated the mechanism underlying this dependence on nicotine.
They investigated a specific receptor for the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, which is activated by nicotine in smokers and is encoded by this specific gene cluster, consisting of three subunits or three genes.
“Although this gene cluster is present in the DNA of every cell, the receptor is only expressed in a few restricted areas of the brain. One of them is the habenula in the midbrain,” said Ibañez-Tallon.
Researchers investigated this receptor and its subunits in egg cells of the African clawed frog and in transgenic mice.
One of the three genes of the cluster is alpha5.
“An important percentage of heavy smokers carry a single mutation in this gene. They are more prone to become addicted to nicotine and to develop lung cancer than individuals without this mutation,” Ibañez-Tallon added.
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