Widespread throughout the body, this enzyme helps break down and inactivate dopamine and related substances. If further work confirms this finding, then drugs that lower COMT activity could be tested as treatments for drug addiction, he says. NIDA's Dr. George Uhl examines a gene that codes for a type of dopamine receptor - a molecule to which the brain chemical dopamine attaches itself. Columns 6 and 9, which have two dark blots - are genetically different from the others. Researchers are trying to determine whether genetic differences such as these relate to drug abuse.
Some scientists think that the best bet is what scientists call a genome-wide scan.
But applying this method to drug addiction will not be straightforward. These genes could operate in many ways. They might make you seek sensations or make it hard to withdraw once you start abusing drugs or make you get higher than other people. Dr. Crabbe in Portland is one of those researchers who thinks that identifying some of the genes involved in drug abuse and addiction is in sight. That's the big thing that will happen in this field in the next 5 to 10 years.