Introduction
In today’s society, drugs are often thought of as pain relievers; yet, depending on environmental variables, they may also pose a risk to an individual’s gene expression. Alcohol, nicotine, cocaine, and opioids are thought to be the chemicals that society has induced as depressive alleviation; these drugs sting back at the person by inhibiting gene expression. These complex medications are a health concern that could give rise to further harm in the environmental assortment of mental illnesses and the anticipated impacts on future generations. Taking that consideration into account, people’s genetic makeup could be directly impacted by drug usage. Additionally, the issue of younger generation e-cigarette consumption negatively impacts the generation’s health consequences in behavioral and developmental domains, resulting in an extended impact on the trajectory of the nation. This research is essential to understand the root causes of health issues before determining the path of action that could result in their resolution.
Photo by Christoph Bock, Max Planck Institute for Informatics.
How do drugs induce changes in gene expression
The brain is the master jewel that comprises whispering pathways of neurotransmitters that run across a person’s body. These nerves are streamlined in the middle making up the brain as the main hub of information control. On the other hand, the remaining nervous cells branch out as they gather data from an individual’s perceptions and experiences of their environment. A series of observations made by a person passes through an express track of nerves that have DNA components. These fibers are arranged along a path that could comprise the information that has been transferred throughout the person’s body. This information has a set pack for the decisions that had to be decided upon within the brain. This data forms electric chemicals that travel through the neurotransmitters to reach the brain and contain a DNA route that continuously codes each person’s genetic markers. This makes the DNA the critical role player within each individual’s gene as it serves as the builder of the pathway for the emotions and views that a person experiences based on environmental exposure, making them the indirect controller (Donato, 2021).
The genetic information of an individual is carefully sequenced within the small but impeccable array of the DNA. Because they provide the dynamic structure required for the preservation of life and the ability to carry out regular tasks, these structures could be referred to as “life banks.” The deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) is the smallest component that exists within the cells’ nucleus of each person. It serves as an instructor of the cells to the organs for the management of growth and smooth regulation. The slightest changes that could come from within these life bases could mean the question of personal health problems. The complications arise from the consumption of drugs or other environmental components that could diverge mental health. One of the factors includes the consumption of different types of drugs such as “alcohol, nicotine, cocaine, and opioids as [they cause a change] in the central regulation of metabolism” (Karla,2024).
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Drug Effects: Exploring Genetic and Mental Health Impacts
Justin Rhodes was a pharmacologist at Virginia Medical Center who has been carrying out multiple research by using microarray technology. According to Jerily, this technology was designed with the capacity to conduct “large scale” research work to collect reliable data while working with small biological changes such as genetic expression. The microarray was a superficial means to carry out the research. The genes passed through the steps of design, printing, hybridization, scanning, and analysis, which presented several genes at different levels of substance exposure (Jerilyn A., 2006). The main aim was to study the relationship between the parameters of addictive drug usage and its role in carrying out genetic expression. According to Rhodes’s research, the consumption of highly concentrated addictive drugs can impact an individual’s genetic replication as the building blocks are interconnected with each other. The research showed that the genes containing changes based on drugs occur by excess multiplication of the DNA. This process takes place from the DNA to the RNA while being exposed to different factors such as drugs. Once the small exposed structures begin replication, the impact could further speed up by forming a molecular reaction that can impact the Immediate Early Genes (IEGs). These genes are activated while consuming drugs at which they become responsible for the brain’s neural messages. This causes a reformation in multiple cell nuclei causing a change in a person’s stress, hormone, and neural activity. In addition, the structure of the dopamine transporter protein could be impacted by changing the structural composition which alters the dopamine level in an individual. This change in dopamine is caused by the drug’s interaction with the neurotransmitters that alters the feedback that is received by the brain. During this time, the person faces profound effects on behavior, mental health, and neurological function. With nothing to stop it, the rewarding effects of addiction seize, increasing an individual’s potential for physical and psychiatric damage as things escalate out of control. On the whole, the smaller structural alteration leads to changes in the behavior and psychological state of the individual (Henderson,2005).
Drugs activate the gene’s transcriptional replication stage by introducing enhancers that target the cellular response of the mTOR 1. This protein complex regulates the growth of the cell within the sophistication of the development. To achieve this, the mTOR 1 controls the mitochondrial metabolism. The process takes place in each individual’s cell while responding to the nerve signals that can transfer messages across the entire body. Through the process, the consumption of drugs could affect the purpose of this protein complex, affecting the continual growth of the cell. This causes an uncontrolled cell growth manner that can further impact the survival rate of the cells within the individual (Neasta,2014).
The other factor includes the c-fos promoter, this was a subject of research looked upon by BH Cochran. The c-fos promoter is located in the region of a person’s gene; it plays a role in the activation of the DNA replication in which the RNA forms. For a drug-consuming individual, these promoters activate the nerve signals to increase the transfer of stress and neural electricities through the brain. The c-fos promoters have carried out how a person receives a message from other parts of the body while the promoters support the c-fos protein activation. This protein is an umbrella under the IEGs gene that becomes activated by responses received from the brain. Based on the research, the gene activation would eventually affect the c-jun protein, which controls the conditions under which cells develop. According to the U.S. National Library of Medicine, the activation of the c-jun could occur due to interactions with genes that cause apoptosis and expression in response to a range of cues and growth factors, amongst other stimuli. The human anatomy is quite a dynamic structure where the DNA passes from generation while serving the role of control for the survival of the person. However, the consumption of substances into the body has a detrimental effect on how the transcriptional stage of the DNA reflects the genetic expression of the person. This projects a long-lasting effect on an individual’s mental health and neuronal development. This occurs within the DNA where the transcription allows the affected gene to use promoter and enhancer regions at which the consequences increase. Based on the various interactions that take place within, C-Jun is involved in an assortment of “cellular processes, including differentiation, apoptosis, proliferation, and response to cellular stress.” (BH,2004). Each of these factors has its trajectory on health. One of the drugs that plays a role in this situation would be e-cigarettes, which contain a mix of nicotine and other substances which creates a change in metabolism reaction making it a health concern.
Unraveling Drugs Impact on Adolescent Development and Long-Term Outcomes
Nowadays, e-cigarette manufacturers provide medication use in a way that appeals to consumers by offering a variety of tastes. In an attempt to draw in younger consumers, the vapes are offered in several sections featuring fruit-flavored, mint/menthol, and sweet flavors. E-cigarette consumption has been a situation that “reversed a decades-long trend of declining nicotine use among youth,” this raises the question of business and mental health as vaping markets continue to increase(Gilley,2020). The USC Keck School of Medicine reports that compared to nonusers, using these kinds of tastes and devices is linked to a twofold increase in the risk of DNA damage, increasing within the transcriptional stage. According to the study, “individuals who use vaping and smoking products have a history of smoking cigarettes.” This raises questions of ethics about the introduction of drug products to the next generation without taking into account the effects they may have on their daily lives. This might further impact the children’s lives with health concerns associated with both psychology and physiology that result from genetic effects and biological changes in time(Abrams,2023).
In the United States, tobacco is used by about 2 million and 800,000 high school children (10% of the younger population), according to the Food and Drug Administration. The fact that a large percentage of middle school students have been using e-cigarettes made the matter worse. “Approximately 90% of e-cigarette users said that fruit flavors were among their favorite forms of use, according to a widespread study” (Morton, 2024). Chemicals found in e-cigarettes tend to negatively affect the development of the younger population, which is still trying to figure out what is good and bad for their health and well-being. The topic of what is being done to raise the consciousness of these young brains arises because the younger generation will likely take over various sectors of the country momentarily. One of the FDA’s education campaigns, Red Coast, is being organized in conjunction with various social media platforms and streams to raise awareness among the younger generation about the dangers of vaping. Roughly three-quarters of the pupils surveyed stated they were familiar with the dissemination of information, despite the nationwide public education programs. (Morton, 2024). It could sometimes be taken for granted but the health of those young children has a vessel-like structure where the drug’s consumption count affects the DNA controller. This could further lead to the breakdown of the original healthy mental development of the child.
Photo by Ken Pang on MCRI
Maternal Drug Use: Unveiling the Long-Term Health Implications on Offspring
Most drugs such as alcohol, nicotine, cocaine, amphetamine, Ecstasy, and opiates produce a neurodevelopmental trajectory that can easily pass through the womb of the mother, affecting the young and fragile brain of the fetus. Neurodevelopment is a factor that is induced by the effect of gene expression in the neurons of the developing brain of the young offspring. The influence of gene expression in the neurons could have a long-term effect both on the young offspring and the additional population of the nation. The majority of drugs and chemical substances create a neurodevelopmental trajectory that is easily passed through the mother’s womb and affects the fetus’s developing and delicate brain. The consumption of opiates by the mother had been one of the cases where fetal growth was manipulated by drug consumption. During this time, the exposed child experiences a lifelong effect of neonatal abstinence syndrome. The syndrome continues hand in hand with the developing child since the day of birth. From onwards, the child would experience pain stepping across the whole body with no relief for sleep but crying with no one to hear. As things escalate, fate leads some of the children to mortality. The survivors continue to have the syndrome as a dark shadow of their neural development and educational life that comes across(Anbalagan,2023). This factor has long-term effects on both the life of the young offspring and the country that continues to have additional fetal syndrome cases. The pain becomes marked based on the consequences of drug exposure. Within this lifetime the child grows with learning disabilities, psychological well-being, and ability to adapt to changes in societal relationships. The marks on child impairment ailments elaborate on how drug usage continues to affect the population and nation (Ross,2015).
Conclusion
The life of human beings signifies the case of a transparent glass within the genetic expression. The consumption of drugs interbred with the small crystals of molecules causes changes that can make the consuming individual fragile to mental health impairment. The case does not exclude the fetus as the consumption by the mother during pregnancy shows up in the long-lasting path of the child’s life. Drug genetic markers have become cases that continue to be studied based on the DNA reaction to find solutions for mental health. Commitment to health safety begins from studying indoor heath as that is the point that provides clues for what could be done next. On the other hand, organizations such as Red Coast continue to educate children about the effects of drugs as they are the next generation with curiosity within their minds.
Written by: Mikyas Telahun
Professor Marie McAllister
English 202D 02
Link to website Vapor and Vulnerability: Exploring Cannabis Use and Psychosis Among Various Generations: 202 ENGL Writing About Medicine
Work Cited
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Anbalagan, Saminathan. “Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome.” StatPearls [Internet]., U.S. National Library of Medicine, 21 July 2023, www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK551498/.
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Gilley, Meghan, and Suzanne Beno. “Vaping Implications for Children and Youth.” Current Opinion in Pediatrics, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 2 June 2020, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32332326/.
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Jerilyn A, Timlin. “Scanning Microarrays: Current Methods and Future Directions.” Methods in Enzymology, U.S. National Library of Medicine, 11 Apr. 2006, pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16939787/.
Karla Kaun Associate Professor of Neuroscience. “Alcohol and Drugs Rewire Your Brain by Changing How Your Genes Work – Research Is Investigating How to Counteract Addiction’s Effects.” The Conversation, 23 Jan. 2024, theconversation.com/alcohol-and-drugs-rewire-your-brain-by-changing-how-your-genes-work-research-is-investigating-how-to-counteract-addictions-effects-220134.
Little Hilary. “Commonly Used Drugs Charts.” National Institutes of Health, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 6 Dec. 2023, nida.nih.gov/research-topics/commonly-used-drugs-charts.
Morton Jenny, Center for Tobacco. “Results from the Annual National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS).” U.S. Food and Drug Administration, FDA, www.fda.gov/tobacco-products/youth-and-tobacco/results-annual-national-youth-tobacco-survey. Accessed 21 Mar. 2024.
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