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The Journal of Neuroscience, July 16, 2008, 28(29):7344-7349; doi:10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1043-08.2008

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Brief Communications
FosB Mediates Epigenetic Desensitization of the c-fos Gene After Chronic Amphetamine Exposure

William Renthal,¹ Tiffany L. Carle,¹ Ian Maze,¹ Herbert E. Covington III,¹ Hoang-Trang Truong,¹ Imran Alibhai,¹ Arvind Kumar,¹ Rusty L. Montgomery,² Eric N. Olson,² and Eric J. Nestler¹

Departments of ¹Psychiatry and Neuroscience and ²Molecular Biology, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, Texas 75390-9070

Correspondence should be addressed to Eric J. Nestler, Departments of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75390-9070. Email: eric.nestler{at}utsouthwestern.edu

The molecular mechanisms underlying the transition from recreational drug use to chronic addiction remain poorly understood. One molecule implicated in this process is FosB, a transcription factor that accumulates in striatum after repeated drug exposure and mediates sensitized behavioral responses to psychostimulants and other drugs of abuse. The downstream transcriptional mechanisms by which FosB regulates drug-induced behaviors are incompletely understood. We reported previously the chromatin remodeling mechanisms by which FosB activates the expression of certain genes; however, the mechanisms underlying FosB-mediated gene repression remain unknown. Here, we identify c-fos, an immediate early gene rapidly induced in striatum after acute psychostimulant exposure, as a novel downstream target that is repressed chronically by FosB. We show that accumulation of FosB in striatum after chronic amphetamine treatment desensitizes c-fos mRNA induction to a subsequent drug dose. FosB desensitizes c-fos expression by recruiting histone deacetylase 1 (HDAC1) to the c-fos gene promoter, which, in turn, deacetylates surrounding histones and attenuates gene activity. Accordingly, local knock-out of HDAC1 in striatum abolishes amphetamine-induced desensitization of the c-fos gene. In concert, chronic amphetamine increases histone H3 methylation on the c-fos promoter, a chromatin modification also known to repress gene activity, as well as expression levels of the H3 histone methyltransferase, KMT1A (lysine methyltransferase 1A, formerly SUV39H1). This study reveals a novel epigenetic pathway through which FosB mediates distinct transcriptional programs that may ultimately alter behavioral plasticity to chronic amphetamine exposure.

Key words: addiction; amphetamine; striatum; chromatin; histone modification; gene regulation

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Received March 10, 2008; revised April 29, 2008; accepted June 4, 2008.

Correspondence should be addressed to Eric J. Nestler, Departments of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, 5323 Harry Hines Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75390-9070. Email: eric.nestler{at}utsouthwestern.edu

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