brains of human alcoholics have shown that the transcriptional reprogramming that takes place is brain area-specific and may reflect both preexisting differences in gene expression and alterations in response to alcohol consumption (Mayfield et al., 2008; Gorini et al., 2011). In addition, epigenetic reprogramming, primarily mediated by direct methylation of DNA and acetylation, methylation, and phosphorylation of histone proteins, appears to contribute to the altered gene expression observed in alcoholics and animal models of alcohol consumption (Miranda et al., 2010).
