Figure 1.

Neurons of heroin users show younger epigenetic age than neurons of non-addicted individuals. (a) Correlation of neuronal DNAm age with chronological age of all subjects at time of death. Red circles, heroin subjects; black circles, all other subjects; (b) Analysis of epigenetic age acceleration in the neurons among heroin users, suicide subjects, and controls. The heroin subjects have a younger DNAm vs. chronological age (p = 0.022); (c) Analysis of epigenetic age acceleration in the neurons comparing heroin users and all subjects who did not abuse heroin. A significantly younger neuronal DNAm age in heroin users was observed (p = 0.0082); (d) Same as in (c), but for subjects with chronological age <40. The titles of the bar plots report the results of a non-parametric group comparison test (Kruskal Wallis test).