Receptor variant influences dopamine response to alcohol

Tuesday, May 18, 2010 - 09:31 in Biology & Nature

Researchers showed that human subjects with the 118G variant of the mu-opioid receptor released dopamine from the ventrial striatum of the brain in response to alcohol, while those with the more common 118A variant of this receptor did not. They then demonstrated that mice carrying the gene for the 118G receptor variant showed a fourfold higher peak dopamine response to alcohol compared to mice with the 118A receptor variant gene.

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