Response To Alcohol Changes With Dopamine D2
Wednesday, October 20, 2010 - 10:10
in Psychology & Sociology
Is alcoholism genetic as well as behavioral? Studies have suggested it in the past and scientists at Brookhaven National Lab say they have the first experimental evidence of it.Their study compared the brain's response to long-term alcohol drinking in two genetic variants of mice. One strain lacked the gene for a specific brain receptor dopamine D2, which responds to dopamine, the brain's "feel good" chemical, to produce feelings of pleasure and reward. The other strain was genetically normal. In the dopamine-receptor-deficient mice (but not the genetically normal strain), long-term alcohol drinking resulted in significant biochemical changes in areas of the brain well know to be involved in alcoholism and addiction. read more