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Nature Reviews Neuroscience 10, 472–473 (1 July 2009) | doi:10.1038/nrn2675

Addiction: Let me count the genes

Leonie Welberg

Addictive drugs alter gene expression in the brain's reward system, notably in the nucleus accumbens (NAc). To investigate the underlying mechanisms, Renthal et al. carried out a genome-wide analysis of chronic cocaine-induced chromatin modifications and transcription-factor binding, revealing a role for sirtuins 1 and 2 (Sirt1 and Sirt2) in the rewarding effects of cocaine.