NEUROBIOLOGY
Midway News
GENETICS AND EVOLUTION
Gambling like a “gateway drug,” study suggests
New genes on the block Evolutionarily recent genes are more likely to control brain development in humans, according to a new study co-authored by Patrick Landback, a graduate student in the laboratory of Manyuan Long, PhD, the Edna K. Papazian Distinguished Service Professor of Ecology and Evolution. By merging a database of gene age with gene transcription data from humans and mice, researchers looked for where young genes specific to each species were expressed. They found that a higher percentage of primate-specific young
genes were expressed in the brain compared to mouse-specific young genes. Human-specific young genes also were more likely to be expressed in uniquely human brain structures, such as the neocortex and prefrontal cortex. As predicted, young human-specific genes in the brain were more likely to be turned on during fetal or infant development. The early activity of these genes suggests scientists should be looking at earlier developmental stages for genetic activity that ultimately shapes the complexity of the human brain.
At any hour of the day or night, many of the customers sitting intently in front of a slot machine will also be smoking cigarettes or drinking a cocktail. Addictions to these pursuits tend to go hand in hand. Neurobiology graduate student Bryan Singer is co-author of a study on how the unpredictability of gambling may predispose the brain to drug addiction. Researchers working in the laboratory of Paul Vezina, professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience, tested whether gambling-like behavior influences the response to the drug amphetamine in an animal model. The results suggest that gambling — and specifically, its random payoff — may have properties similar to a “gateway drug” as an activity that can increase the abuse potential of drugs. Unpredictable rewards may prime the same brain areas hijacked by drugs of abuse, producing a stronger behavioral response, known in the field as sensitization, even upon first exposure to a stimulant drug.
Contributing: Rob Mitchum, Dianna Douglas and Matt Wood
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THE UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO MEDICINE AND BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES DIVISION