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No association of alcohol dependence with a NMDA-receptor 2B gene variant

Molecular Psychiatry volume 8, pages 11–12 (2003)Cite this article

SIR – Alcohol dependence is a disorder with strong genetic influences and heritability estimates ranging between 40 and 60%.1 Recent results have demonstrated the importance of ethanol-induced glutamatergic neurotransmission for the development of alcohol dependence. Ethanol-induced glutamatergic neurotransmission has been shown to influence pathophysiological mechanisms central to the development of alcohol dependence, including tolerance, withdrawal symptoms, craving and ethanol-related neurotoxicity.2 We performed an association study of alcohol dependence and a silent single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the N-methyl-D-aspartate (NMDA) receptor 2B (NR2B) subunit leading to a C to T exchange at position 2873 of the gene (accession number XM 006636.2).3 A total of 204 patients (157 males, 47 females) with alcohol dependence according to DSM-IV criteria and 258 unrelated control subjects (138 males, 120 females) were included in the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Central Institute of Mental Health (CIMH), Mannheim, Germany

    G Schumann & F A Henn

  2. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Molecular Neurobiology, University of Munich, Germany

    D Rujescu & I Giegling

  3. Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Mainz, Germany

    A Szegedi, P Singer, C Klawe & N Dahmen

  4. Molecular Genome Analysis, German Cancer Research Center, Heidelberg, Germany

    S Wiemann

  5. Department of Biostatistics, CIMH, Mannheim

    S Wellek

  6. Department of Psychiatry, Benjamin-Franklin Hospital, Free University, Berlin

    I Anghelescu

  7. Department of Psychiatry, Charité, Humboldt University, Berlin

    A Heinz

  8. Department of Psychopharmacology CIMH, Mannheim

    R Spanagel

  9. Department of Addictive Behaviour and Addiction Medicine, CIMH, Mannheim, Germany

    K Mann

Authors
  1. G Schumann
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  2. D Rujescu
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  3. A Szegedi
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  4. P Singer
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  5. S Wiemann
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  6. S Wellek
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  7. I Giegling
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  8. C Klawe
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  9. I Anghelescu
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  10. A Heinz
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  11. R Spanagel
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  12. K Mann
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  13. F A Henn
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  14. N Dahmen
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Correspondence to G Schumann.

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Schumann, G., Rujescu, D., Szegedi, A. et al. No association of alcohol dependence with a NMDA-receptor 2B gene variant. Mol Psychiatry 8, 11–12 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.mp.4001245

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.mp.4001245

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