Alcohol dependence is believed to be a multifactorial, polygenic disorder involving complex gene-gene and gene-environment interactions and confounded by heterogeneity and sociocultural factors. Serotonin (5-Hydroxytryptamine, 5-HT) is thought to be involved in many aspects of alcohol consumption, abuse, and dependence. There was some evidence that serotonin-related genes might interact with th...

Sir, Ethanol, the intoxicant that has plagued civilization down the ages, is metabolized into acetaldehyde by the enzyme alcohol dehydro-genase. In this connection, a medical student recently posed a humorous but interesting question : "Ethanol does not occur naturally in the body; so, why did Nature provide us with alcohol dehydrogenase unless she meant us to drink?" A diligent search through ...

1. Alcohol-dehydrogenase activity is first detectable in the rat foetus on about the eighteenth day of gestation, after which time it increases to about 25% of the adult activity at birth. Adult activity is reached at about 18 days after birth. The ethanol-oxidizing capacity of liver slices from rats correlates well with the increase of the enzyme activity in vitro. 2. In the guinea pig there i...