European Journal of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences

THE ROLE OF DOPAMINE D2 RECEPTOR POLYMORPHISM TOWARDS SUSCEPTIBILITY TO ALCOHOL DEPENDENCE AMONG MALE CASES OF BILASPUR DISTRICT: A PRELIMINARY STUDY

Moumita Sinha*, Niketa Vishwakarma, Ashish Pradhan, I.Arjun Rao, Bharti Ahirwar and Mitashree Mitra

ABSTRACT

Dopamine is a key substrate for alcohol and other drug related behaviours and plays an important role in the central reward process. The psychoactive substances and high levels of alcohol elevate the dopamine release in the NAc zone of the CNS and it is thought that this release is important for the addictive behaviour as it is associated with positive moods, pleasure and euphoria. The DRD2 gene has three most commonly investigated polymorphisms i.e. -141C ins/Del, TaqI B and TaqI A. As a result, we studied association of three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) in DRD2 gene with alcohol dependence in the central Indian subjects using a case-control approach. Cases satisfied DSM-IV criteria for Alcohol Dependence was determined and total of 50 AD cases and 50 healthy unrelated age-matched control samples were included. To determine risk conferred by a predisposing allele/genotype/ haplotype Odds ratio and confidence interval was calculated. The investigation revealed a significant association of -141C Ins allele and a tendency of association of TaqI A1 allele of DRD2 with alcohol dependence. Haplotype with the influencing -141C Ins and TaqI A1 alleles (-141C Ins-A-A1) appears to bestow 3.19 times risk to acquire alcohol dependence. Present study imparts initial understanding towards genetic susceptibility to alcohol dependence in central Indian males. Polymorphisms namely, -141C Ins/Del and TaqI A at DRD2 gene could have proven influences among central Indian alcoholic cases.

Keywords: Alcohol Dependence, DRD2, SNP, Genotype, Allele Frequency.