Aggregating the genes with reduced mRNA expression and increased methylation of promoters or CpG islands, ethanol enriched the regulation of functional groups related to neuroactive ligand-receptor interaction, vascular smooth muscle contraction, calcium signaling pathways, and energy metabolism (Khalid et al. 2014). The authors argue that these may be related to stem cell pluripotency and differentiation. Selected example genes were tested by qPCR to confirm regulation but the changes, while significantly different in ethanol treatment, were relatively minor.
