1. Association of the dopamine transporter gene with alcoholism.
- Author
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Köhnke MD, Batra A, Kolb W, Köhnke AM, Lutz U, Schick S, and Gaertner I
- Subjects
- Adult, Alcohol Drinking genetics, Alcohol Withdrawal Delirium genetics, Female, Gene Frequency, Genetic Carrier Screening, Genetic Predisposition to Disease genetics, Genotype, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Minisatellite Repeats genetics, Polymorphism, Genetic genetics, Reference Values, Alcoholism genetics, Dopamine Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins genetics
- Abstract
Aims: It was investigated whether the allele A9 of the dopamine transporter gene (DAT1; SLC6A3) is associated with alcoholism, delirium tremens (DT), alcohol withdrawal seizures (AWS), or the daily alcohol intake., Methods: A group of 102 healthy subjects and 216 alcoholics, including 97 patients with a history of mild withdrawal symptoms, 65 with a history of AWS and 83 with a history of DT were genotyped and personal data were achieved for statistical evaluation in a case-control design., Results: The frequency of individuals carrying the allele A9 [f(A9+)] was significantly higher (P = 0.01) in the group of alcoholics [f(A9+) = 0.48] compared with healthy controls [f(A9+) = 0.32]. There was no significant association of the allele A9 with severe withdrawal symptoms or the daily amount of alcohol consumed., Conclusions: Our results reveal that the allele A9 is strongly associated with alcoholism but not with withdrawal symptoms or daily alcohol intake.
- Published
- 2005
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