GENETIC ANIMAL-MODELS OF ALCOHOL AND DRUG-ABUSE

Behavioral and pharmacological responses of selectively bred and inbre d rodent lines have been analyzed to elucidate many features of drug s ensitivity and the adverse effects of drugs, the underlying mechanisms of drug tolerance and dependence, and the motivational states underly ing drug reward and aversion. Genetic mapping of quantitative trait lo ci (QTLs) has been used to identify provisional chromosomal locations of genes influencing such pharmacological responses. Recent advances i n transgenic technology, representational difference analysis, and oth er molecular methods now make feasible the positional cloning of QTLs that influence sensitivity to drugs of abuse. This marks a new period of synthesis in pharmacogenetic research, in which networks of drug-re lated behaviors, their underlying pharmacological, physiological, and biochemical mechanisms, and particular genomic regions of interest are being identified.