An association study between alcoholism and the serotonergic receptor genes

Background: Linkage and association studies of alcoholism using DNA makers have been conducted without conclusive results. The comorbidity of alcoholi sm with affective disorder indicates that dysfunction of the serotonergic s ystem may play an important role in developing alcoholism. Methods: We studied the genetic association between alcoholism and alleles of the HTR1A, HTR2A, and HTR2C genes. The subjects were 91 biologically unr elated alcoholics and 90 controls. Polymorphisms of these genes were determ ined by polymerase chain reaction restriction fragment length polymorphisms , and the data were analyzed by chi(2) tests. Results: We found no significant association between alcoholism and the HTR 1A, HTR2A, and HTR2C genes. Conclusions: The study results suggest that these serotonergic receptor gen es may not directly contribute to the etiology of alcoholism.