TY - JOUR
T1 - Pharmacogenetic strategies for studying alcohol dependence
AU - Crabbe, John C.
N1 - Funding Information:
This paper was supported by grants from the Veterans Administration and from the Medical Research Foundation of Oregon. 1 thank Emmett Young, Brenda Tam and Ann Kosobud for their help in collecting much of the data discussed, and Helen Hall for her help with typing.
PY - 1984
Y1 - 1984
N2 - The importance of genotypic differences in the determination of sensitivity to ethanol, tolerance development and physical dependence susceptibility is achieving ever greater recognition. It is now generally accepted by investigators studying the biochemical and physiological bases for alcoholism that genotype can influence all these different aspects of sensitivity to the effects of ethanol. Although there is convincing evidence that susceptibility to alcoholism is inherited in man, we have no idea what it is that is inherited [2, 7, 19, 24, 31]. By examining a family history for a particular individual, we can identify individuals at familial risk for developing problems with alcohol abuse. However, environmental as well as genetic factors are important in determining who does and who does not become an alcoholic [4]. Thus, one critical need is for a genetic marker for alcoholism. Since the search for such markers in human research is both expensive and time-consuming, this has led to the use of animal models for alcoholism. Animal models are particularly helpful for genetic research since their genetics are well understood and can be specifically tooled to the task at hand. The goal of this paper is to illustrate the principal genetic methodologies that have been employed to study the human and animal pharmacogenetics of alcohol, and to identify future directions in this area.
AB - The importance of genotypic differences in the determination of sensitivity to ethanol, tolerance development and physical dependence susceptibility is achieving ever greater recognition. It is now generally accepted by investigators studying the biochemical and physiological bases for alcoholism that genotype can influence all these different aspects of sensitivity to the effects of ethanol. Although there is convincing evidence that susceptibility to alcoholism is inherited in man, we have no idea what it is that is inherited [2, 7, 19, 24, 31]. By examining a family history for a particular individual, we can identify individuals at familial risk for developing problems with alcohol abuse. However, environmental as well as genetic factors are important in determining who does and who does not become an alcoholic [4]. Thus, one critical need is for a genetic marker for alcoholism. Since the search for such markers in human research is both expensive and time-consuming, this has led to the use of animal models for alcoholism. Animal models are particularly helpful for genetic research since their genetics are well understood and can be specifically tooled to the task at hand. The goal of this paper is to illustrate the principal genetic methodologies that have been employed to study the human and animal pharmacogenetics of alcohol, and to identify future directions in this area.
KW - Alcohol physical dependence and withdrawal
KW - Alcoholism
KW - Behavioral genetics
KW - Inbred strains
KW - Monozygotic and dizygotic twins
KW - Pharmacogenetics
KW - Selectively bred lines
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0021634221&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0021634221&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/0741-8329(84)90096-X
DO - 10.1016/0741-8329(84)90096-X
M3 - Article
C2 - 6536283
AN - SCOPUS:0021634221
SN - 0741-8329
VL - 1
SP - 185
EP - 191
JO - Alcohol
JF - Alcohol
IS - 3
ER -