Researchers at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) have identified 51 chromosomal regions that may play a genetic role in alcoholism, the National Institutes of Health reported Aug. 24.

NIDA scientists have just concluded what the agency termed the "most comprehensive scan of the human genome to date linked to the ongoing efforts to identify people most at risk for developing alcoholism."

"This study represents the first time the new genomic technology has been used to comprehensively identify genes linked to substance abuse," according to the NIH.

The genes identified as possibly being related to alcohol addiction include those involved in activities like intercellular communication, control of protein synthesis, and regulation of development.

"Previous studies established that alcoholism runs in families, but this research has given us the most extensive catalogue yet of the genetic variations that may contribute to the hereditary nature of this disease," said NIDA Director Nora D. Volkow. "We now have new tools that will allow us to better understand the physiological foundation of addiction."

The study will be published in the December 2006 issue of the American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B (Neuropsychiatric Genetics).