The Translational Addiction Podcast #7: Role of Alpha2 nAChRs Over a Lifespan

In this episode of the Translational Addiction Podcast, hosts Michaela Sumortin, Ishva Patel, and Arshiya Sen examine how the Chrna2 gene, which encodes alpha-2 nicotinic acetylcholine receptors (nAChRs), acts as an age-, sex-, and genotype-specific "switch" in addiction and fear processing.

Featuring a 2025 Neuropharmacology study, the discussion reveals that while deleting Chrna2 induces lifelong learning deficits in males, it specifically disrupts fear extinction in adult females exposed to nicotine. The episode breaks down the gene's bidirectional influence on reward, as well as possible clinical directions linking failed extinction to the neurobiology of PTSD and Chrna2 expression in ovarian antral follicles. Join us as we uncover how alpha-2 nAChRs define individual vulnerability to trauma and nicotine across the lifespan.

Based on the manuscript by Drs. Alicia Wells, Celina Mojica, Christie Fowler, and Shahrdad Lotfipour, “Deletion or enhancement of alpha-2 nAChRs (Chrna2) induces unique lifespan behavioral deficits.”

Listen now on lotfipourlab.org