Fig. 6: Working model of the role of EZH2 in regulating epigenetic mechanisms and behavioral changes in adulthood after adolescent alcohol exposure. | Translational Psychiatry

Fig. 6: Working model of the role of EZH2 in regulating epigenetic mechanisms and behavioral changes in adulthood after adolescent alcohol exposure.

From: EZH2-dependent epigenetic reprogramming in the central nucleus of amygdala regulates adult anxiety in both sexes after adolescent alcohol exposure

Fig. 6

Adolescent alcohol exposure causes an increase in EZH2, which increases H3K27me3 at the Arc SARE site, leading to chromatin remodeling that results in decreased Arc mRNA and protein levels in the amygdala of adult male and female rats. Interestingly, these molecular changes induced by EZH2 in the CeA are causally related to AIE-induced anxiety-like behaviors during adulthood in both male and female rats. Interestingly, EZH2 occupancy is also increased at the ARC SARE site in the postmortem amygdala of subjects with early age of onset of alcohol use disorder as compared with control subjects (25). Together, these results suggest that EZH2 can serve as an important epigenetic target for developing drugs to treat or prevent adult psychopathology after adolescent alcohol exposure.

Back to article page