MicroRNAs in addiction: adaptation's middlemen?

• Published in: Molecular psychiatry Vol. 16; no. 12; pp. 1159 - 1168
• Main Authors: Li, M D, van der Vaart, A D
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 01-12-2011; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 631/208/200; 631/337/384/331; 631/378/2591; 692/699/476/5; Adaptation; Addiction; Addictions; Animals; Behavioral Sciences; Biological and medical sciences; Biological Psychology; Brain - metabolism; Brain - physiology; Brain-derived neurotrophic factor; Care and treatment; Cyclic AMP response element-binding protein; Drug addiction; expert-review; Gene expression; Gene Expression Regulation - genetics; Gene regulation; Genetic aspects; Genomes; Humans; Kinases; Localization; MeCP2 protein; Medical sciences; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Methyl-CpG binding protein; MicroRNA; MicroRNAs; MicroRNAs - genetics; MicroRNAs - physiology; miRNA; Molecular genetics; Neuronal Plasticity - genetics; Neurosciences; Pharmacotherapy; Properties; Protein synthesis; Proteins; Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Ribonucleic acid; RNA; Substance-Related Disorders - genetics; Substance-Related Disorders - physiopathology; Synaptic plasticity; United States; United States > US; miRNA; plasticity; addictions; regulation; mechanisms; Gene silencing; Addiction; Micro RNA; Plasticity; Adaptation
• ISSN: 1359-4184; 1476-5578
• DOI: 10.1038/mp.2011.58

A central question in addiction is how drug-induced changes in synaptic signaling are converted into long-term neuroadaptations. Emerging evidence reveals that microRNAs (miRNAs) have a distinct role in this process through rapid response to cellular signals and dynamic regulation of local mRNA transcripts. Because each miRNA can target hundreds of mRNAs, relative changes in the expression of miRNAs can greatly impact cellular responsiveness, synaptic plasticity and transcriptional events. These diverse consequences of miRNA action occur through coordination with genes implicated in addictions, the most compelling of these being the neurotrophin
BDNF
, the transcription factor cAMP-responsive element-binding protein (
CREB
) and the DNA-binding methyl CpG binding protein 2 (
MeCP2
). In this study, we review the recent progress in the understanding of miRNAs in general mechanisms of plasticity and neuroadaptation and then focus on specific examples of miRNA regulation in the context of addiction. We conclude that miRNA-mediated gene regulation is a conserved means of converting environmental signals into neuronal response, which holds significant implications for addiction and other psychiatric illnesses.