Rat Study Reveals Genetic Clues to Alcoholism

Filed in archive Investigational , Studies by Gloria Gamat on May 5, 2006

alcoholism is an addiction that people acquire for various reasons. I guess mostly due to some kind of depression or merely due to some personality flaw. So that when a person is depressed or has undergone some shocking episodes in life, some people tend to drown their depression or anger (or whatever) in drinking tons of alcoholic drinks. Later on, when he/she cannot anymore pull he/she cannot anymore pull him/herself from the pit he/she put him/herself into, them he/she turns into an alcoholic.

Would you agree if you are told that alcoholism is in your genes and not just due to some attitude problem that you are experiencing?

Well a rat study done at the University of Texas Austin is unraveling the genetic clues to alcoholism:

The study, which looked at most of the genes expressed in the brain, also demonstrates the speed and depth of studies of complex genetic diseases made possible by mouse models and increasingly cheaper DNA microarrays.

The researchers examined gene expression across the entire brain of the mice. They found that 3,800 genes differ in expression levels between teetotaler and alcohol-loving mice. In particular, 75 of these genes seem to be associated with the mice's penchant for more or less alcohol. And 36 of the genes are in stretches of the human genome that have been implicated in alcoholism.

Can we really just blame alcoholism to genetics?

You be the judge and read more at Technology Review.

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