Citation

Barik S. Mol Pharmacol 2007; 71(5): 1203-1205.

Affiliation

Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of South Alabama, College of Medicine, 307 University Blvd., Mobile, AL 36688-0002, USA. sbarik@jaguar1.usouthal.edu

Comment On:

Mol Pharmacol 2007;71(5):1319-28.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics)

DOI

10.1124/mol.107.035196

PMID

17303699

Abstract

Why babies of crack-cocaine mothers develop heart problems has always been a mystery. In this issue of Molecular Pharmacology, Zhang et al. (p. 1319) show that a specific methylation occurs at the protein kinase Cepsilon (PKCepsilon) promoter of the babies born of mother rats exposed to cocaine. This reduces the expression of PKCepsilon, a naturally cardioprotective enzyme, which provides a plausible molecular mechanism for cardiac failure.

Language: en