Monoamine oxidases and alcoholism. I. Studies in unrelated alcoholics and normal controls

Journal Article · Mon Oct 09 04:00:00 EDT 1995 · American Journal of Medical Genetics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/ajmg.1320600511· OSTI ID:254385

Parsian, A; Suarez, B K; Fisher, L ^[1]

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1. Washington Univ. School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO (United States); and others

Low platelet MAO activity has been associated with alcoholism. In order to evaluate the role of MAO genes in susceptibility to alcoholism, we have taken a biochemical and molecular genetic approach. The sample consisted of 133 alcoholic probands who were classified by subtypes of alcoholism and 92 normal controls. For those subjects typed for platelet MAO activity, alcoholics (N = 74) were found not to differ from the non-alcoholic controls (N = 34). Neither was there a significant difference between type I and type II alcoholics or between either subtype and normal controls. However, we do find significant differences between male and female alcoholics, but not between male and female controls. The allele frequency distribution for the MAO-A and MAO-B dinucleotide repeats is different between the alcoholic sample (N = 133) and the normal control sample (N = 92). In a two-way analysis of variance of MAO-B activity as a function of the allelic variation of each marker locus and diagnosis, there is no evidence for mean differences in activity levels for the different alleles. Our findings do not rule out a role for the MAO-B gene in controlling the enzyme activity because the dinucleotide repeats are located in introns. 52 refs., 1 figs., 4 tabs.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• OSTI ID: 254385
• Journal Information: American Journal of Medical Genetics, Journal Name: American Journal of Medical Genetics Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 60; ISSN 0148-7299; ISSN AJMGDA
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

55 BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE
BASIC STUDIES
AMINE OXIDASES
BLOOD PLATELETS
DRUG ABUSE
ENZYME ACTIVITY
GENE MUTATIONS
GENES
INTRONS
NUCLEOTIDES
PATIENTS
RISK ASSESSMENT
SEX DEPENDENCE