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A Genetic Familial Study of Monoamine Oxidase B Activity and Concentration in Alcoholics
Author(s) -
Devor Eric J.,
Cloninger C. Robert,
Kwan SauWah,
Abell Creed W.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
alcoholism: clinical and experimental research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 153
eISSN - 1530-0277
pISSN - 0145-6008
DOI - 10.1111/j.1530-0277.1993.tb00760.x
Subject(s) - monoamine oxidase , monoamine oxidase a , monoamine oxidase b , family studies , medicine , chemistry , locus (genetics) , endocrinology , enzyme , gene , biology , genetics , biochemistry
Platelet monoamine oxidase B (MAO B) activity and concentration were studied in a small sample of alcoholic families ( n = 8) and in 20 unrelated, nonalcoholic controls. Complex segregation analyses of familial data indicated that both activity and concentration are controlled by a single major gene locus with a multifactorial background effect accounting for 0–50% of the variance. When the alcoholic family members ( n = 24) were compared with the controls, all determinations of activity display significant differences, whereas MAO B concentration levels showed no difference. These results indicated that the lowered MAO B activities frequently reported among alcoholics do not reflect a change in the number of MAO B macromolecules expressed in platelets, but could be caused by the presence of an inhibitor or by a polymorphic or variant form of the enzyme.