0000000000084129
AUTHOR
Catrin Wernicke
Norepinephrine transporter gene polymorphism is not associated with susceptibility to alcohol dependence
Abnormalities in monoamine neurotransmission have been implicated in the pathogenesis of alcoholism, mood disorders and schizophrenia. Murine norepinephrine transporter gene (NET) has been mapped to a region on chromosome 8 where a quantitative trait locus for ethanol sensitivity. Therefore we tested whether norepinephrine transporter (NET) gene variants confer susceptibility to either alcohol dependence or severe alcohol withdrawal symptoms. There is a highly polymorphic silent G1287A mutation in the NET gene. In our study 157 alcoholics and 185 healthy unrelated matched control subjects were analyzed for a silent G1287A mutation. No significant differences in allele and genotype distribut…
Evidence for the importance of the human dopamine transporter gene for withdrawal symptomatology of alcoholics in a German population
Two new polymorphisms in the 3' untranslated region (3'UTR) of the dopamine transporter (DAT1) gene, adjacent to the known variable number of tandem repeats (VNTR) polymorphism, have been investigated in the present population-based association study including 351 alcoholics and 336 controls. The DraI restriction site was not polymorphic in our population. The G2319A polymorphism was not significantly different with respect to genotype or allele distribution between alcoholics and controls. Subsequently, in individuals with VNTR homozygosity for the ten repeat allele, we found a higher prevalence of A/A homozygosity in patients with seizure history (P = 0.001, odds ratio (OR) = 7.913), with…
Polymorphisms in the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor 1 and 2B subunits are associated with alcoholism-related traits.
Abstract Background This study examined the hypothesis that allelic variants of the ionotropic glutamatergic N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) are associated with vulnerability to alcoholism and some related traits. Methods We investigated the silent G2108A and C2664T polymorphisms of the NMDAR1 and the NMDAR2B genes, respectively. The case control study included 367 alcoholic and 335 control subjects of German origin. The family-based study comprised 81 Polish alcoholic patients and their parents using the transmission disequilibrium test. Results The genotype frequencies of the NMDAR1 polymorphism differed significantly between control and alcoholic subjects. This difference was also …