Researchers from NIAAA and George Washington University in Washington, D.C., found that college students with a particular variant of the serotonin-transporter gene (5-HTT) drank more alcohol per occasion, drank more often just to get drunk, and were more likely to engage in binge drinking than students without the variant.

The research was based on interviews with 262 college students, ages 17 to 23, about their alcohol consumption. The team of scientists then analyzed the genetic profiles of the participants.

The 5-HTT gene is involved in recycling the chemical serotonin after it is secreted into the synapse of a cell. Rather than having one long and one short variant of the serotonin-transporter gene, study participants found to be predisposed to harmful drinking behavior had duplicate copies of the short version.

"Taken together with other research, this finding suggests that genetically mediated differences in serotonergic response play an important role in mediating patterns of alcohol intake," said Paolo B. DePetrillo, M.D., a clinical investigator at NIAAA.

The study also found that students with at least one copy of the long variant of the gene were more likely to consume fewer drinks at one sitting, even though they went out to drink as often as the other students.

"This research provides important new evidence that the risk of developing a maladaptive pattern of alcohol consumption is influenced by genetically determined neurobiological differences that exert their effects during young adulthood," said Ting-Kai Li, M.D., director of NIAAA.

The study is published in the September 2003 issue of the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism.

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