Methamphetamine Alters Calcium Channel Gene DNA Methylation and Gene Expression in the Murine Heart

Methamphetamine (METH) is a widely abused illicit drug that is highly addictive and affects cardiac metabolism and contraction. We employed microarrays to identify mRNA differences in cardiac left ventricle (LV) gene expression following METH administration (10d, 3mg/kg/d, subcutaneously) in C57Bl/6 mice. Parallel DNA methylation changes were identified using tiled DNA microarrays to implicate epigenetic reprogramming and highlight long-term cardiac impact of METH. Gene expression arrays identified 485 genes that were differentially expressed following METH (expression fold change>1.5, p