It was found that alcohol metabolites have acetylation effect on brain histone

Recently, published in nature, researchers from the Perelman School of medicine at the University of Pennsylvania found that the acetylation of brain histone by alcohol metabolites provides new methods and strategies for the treatment of alcohol abuse and the prevention of fetal alcohol syndrome Many studies have shown that epigenetic regulation depends on metabolic status and involves specific metabolic factors In neurons, histone acetylation depends on the metabolite acetyl coenzyme A, which is produced by chromatin binding acetyl coenzyme a synthesis (http:// enzyme 2 (acetyl CoA synthetase 2, acss2) It should be noted that liver decomposition of alcohol leads to the rapid increase of acetate content in blood, so alcohol is the main source of acetate in human body Therefore, histone acetylation in neurons may be affected by acetate derived from alcohol The researchers used stable isotope markers in mice to elucidate the process of rapid acetylation of histones in the brain caused by alcohol metabolism This process relies on acss2, which precipitates the acetyl group produced by alcohol metabolism directly to histone A similar acetylation process was observed when mice were injected with retargeted acetate When pregnant mice are exposed to isotopic labeled alcohol, the labeled acetyl groups bind to histones in the brain of the pregnant fetus In the primary hippocampal neurons in vitro, extracellular acetic acid induces transcription programs related to learning and memory, which are sensitive to acss2 inhibition This study shows that there is a direct relationship between the acetylation of histones in the brain by acss2 and gene regulation.