Word: d4
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...dopamine genes known as D2 and D4 might also play a role in drug abuse, for similar reasons. Both these genes, it turns out, contain the blueprints for assembling what scientists call a receptor, a minuscule bump on the surface of cells to which biologically active molecules are attracted. And just as a finger lights up a room by merely flicking a switch, so dopamine triggers a sequence of chemical reactions each time it binds to one of its five known receptors. Genetic differences that reduce the sensitivity of these receptors or decrease their number could diminish the sensation...
...problem is, studies that have purported to find a basis for addiction in variations of the D2 and D4 genes have not held up under scrutiny. Indeed, most scientists think addiction probably involves an intricate dance between environmental influences and multiple genes, some of which may influence dopamine activity only indirectly. This has not stopped some researchers from promoting the provocative theory that many people who become alcoholics and drug addicts suffer from an inherited condition dubbed the reward-deficiency syndrome. Low dopamine levels caused by a particular version of the D2 gene, they say, may link a breathtaking array...
...genetic variety was not meant to be. Researchers from the United States and Finland announced recently that, despite attempts to replicate the results in two groups of Finnish men, they did not detect any connection between novelty-seeking and the longer gene variant of the so-called dopamine D4 receptor gene that was purported to correlate with it. The conclusion of these researchers: "These data suggest that D4DR may require re-evaluation as a candidate gene for personality variation...
...psychiatry at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City. "If you were lucky, you got a drug that worked as well as the old one but had fewer side effects. Now we can be very specific and say, 'Let's go after the D3 receptor or the D4 receptor...
...entered the market in 1993, and four others are nearing approval by the fda, including Lilly's Zyprexa and Abbott Labs' Serlect. Meanwhile, further down the drug-development pipeline are a number of third-generation Clozaril cousins, some of which are specifically targeted at the little-known D3 and D4 receptors...