Drug addiction is a psychiatric condition known to be associated with the dopaminergic system, which has a vital part in the reward mechanism and etiology of drug addictions in the brain. This study’s aim is to assess the relationship of single-nucleotide polymorphisms in TaqIB and TaqIA of the DRD2 gene with the risk of drug dependence in a Northwestern Iranian population. 83 drug-dependent subjects and 83 healthy subjects have been recruited in this study. After genomic DNA isolation, two single-nucleotide polymorphisms, TaqIA (rs1800497) and TaqIB (rs1079597), were genotyped using the PCR-RFLP technique. Data analysis has been performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS-24) software for the chisquare (X2 ) test. No significant difference was detected in the TaqIA polymorphism between the control and case study groups (p > .05). In the case group, the TaqIB polymorphism was higher than the control group, showing a statistically significant variation (p < .05). The SNPs of TaqIB (rs1079597) in the DRD2 gene are associated with genetic susceptibility to drug abuse in the Iranian-Azeri population.

Citation: Fanid, L. M., Hosseinpourfeizi, M. A., Adampourzare, M., & Abdi, A. (2018). The association of single-nucleotide polymorphisms in dopamine receptor d2 gene with heroin dependence in an Iranian Population. Addicta: The Turkish Journal on Addictions, 5, 7–12. http://dx.doi.org/10.15805/addicta.2018.5.1.0016

Keywords: Drug abuse, Polymorphism, DRD2 gene