Advances in Medications and Tailoring Treatment for Alcohol Use Disorder.

ABSTRACT: Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a chronic heritable brain disorder with a variable clinical presentation. This variability, or heterogeneity, in clinical presentation suggests complex interactions between environmental and biological factors, resulting in several underlying pathophysiological mechanisms in the development and progression of AUD. Classifying AUD into subgroups of common clinical or pathological characteristics would ease the complexity of teasing apart underlying molecular mechanisms. Genetic association analyses have revealed several polymorphisms-small differences in DNA-that increase a person's vulnerability to develop AUD and other alcohol-related intermediate characteristics, such as severity of drinking, age of AUD onset, or measures of craving. They also have identifie

SUBMITTER: Seneviratne C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4476601 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature