Browsing by Subject "epileptic seizures"

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    A DNA Element Regulates Drug Tolerance and Withdrawal in Drosophila
    (PLOS One, 2013-09-23) Li, Xiaolei; Ghezzi, Alfredo; Pohl, Jascha B.; Bohm, Arun Y.; Atkinson, Nigel S.
    Drug tolerance and withdrawal are insidious responses to drugs of abuse; the first increases drug consumption while the second punishes abstention. Drosophila generate functional tolerance to benzyl alcohol sedation by increasing neural expression of the slo BK-type Ca2+ activated K+ channel gene. After drug clearance this change produces a withdrawal phenotype—increased seizure susceptibility. The drug-induced histone modification profile identified the 6b element (60 nt) as a drug responsive element. Genomic deletion of 6b produces the allele, sloΔ6b, that reacts more strongly to the drug with increased induction, a massive increase in the duration of tolerance, and an increase in the withdrawal phenotype yet does not alter other slo-dependent behaviors. The 6b element is a homeostatic regulator of BK channel gene expression and is the first cis-acting DNA element shown to specifically affect the duration of a drug action.