Chronic drug exposure induces persistent changes in the brain that underlie the addiction-associated behavioral abnormalities seen in human addicts and rodent models of addiction. Data from broad expression studies using microarray technology and from single-gene approaches suggest that cocaine exposure elicits widespread modifications to the transcriptional landscape, including drug-induced changes in epigenetics, RNA processing, microRNAs, and gene transcription (McClung and Nestler, 2008; Eipper-Mains et al., 2011). These alterations are believed to be integral to the neural plasticity seen in addiction.
