National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA)

Risky Drinking Can Put a Chill on Your Summer
Learn More
Fact Sheet Promotion
Click for More Information
Alcohol treatment navigator
Learn more
Blackouts Promo
blackouts fact sheet

Latest News

Research News

August 08, 2019

New preclinical study points to potential role of human gene in addiction

A new study led by researchers at the National Institute...

New & Noteworthy

July 12, 2019

Dr. Paule Joseph Selected as Lasker Clinical Research Scholar in NINR/NIAAA Intramural Research Program

...

News Release

July 09, 2019

Dr. Carlo C. DiClemente to Deliver 11th Annual Jack Mendelson Honorary Lecture at the National Institutes of Health

What: The National Institute on Alcohol...

Research News

June 19, 2019

Reduction in Drinking Associated with Improvements in Health and Quality of Life

In clinical trials for alcohol use disorder (AUD), abstinence...

NIAAA Clinical Research

Collaborative Research on Addiction at NIH (CRAN)

Upcoming Events

Aug

27 to 29

The National Prevention Network (NPN) Annual Conference

Sep

12

National Advisory Council on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism

Tweets

@NIDAnews NIDA and @NIAAAnews are now accepting applications for the Early Career Investigator Showcase [ECIS]. The showcase… t.co/oQCFPZuOFN
1 day 5 hours ago

Instagram

A new study led by NIAAA researchers and colleagues at @uofmichigan identifies regions of the rat genome that are associated with novelty seeking and impulsive behavior, behaviors that are highly predictive of addiction onset and progression. The region in the rat genome with the strongest association with these behaviors corresponded to a human gene associated with substance use disorders (SUD). Scientists bred rats to exhibit either high or low degrees of arousal in response to novel environment. They found that the region in the rat genome with the strongest association with the behavior contains the gene apba2. Variants of the human gene, APBA2, were found more frequently in people with SUD, supporting a link between the gene, novelty-seeking behavior, and addiction.
The authors conclude, “The converging evidences of our human genetic association analysis and the molecular and behavioral analyses of other studies link apba2 to response to novelty and at least to the early stage of drug-seeking behavior seen in externalizing disorders.” To learn more, see the article by Zhou Z, et al. PNAS. 116 (26): 13107-13115.

#NIAAA #NIAAAnews #research #science #alcoholabuse #alcoholaddiction #addiction #genetics #genomics #research #science #sciencenews

See more at @NIAAANews

Areas of Interest

Scientists & Researchers

Clinicians

Info by Topic

Other NIAAA Sites