Genetic aspects of substance use disorders

Abstract

Substance use disorders (SUD) represent a class of disorders associated with compulsive seeking or use of a particular psychoactive substance. Such disorders encompass a pathological pattern of behavior in which the use of the substance persists even due to significant problems related to its use, such as social, economic, or criminal. SUD originate due to changes in brain systems responsible for learning control, motivation, and reward. Although the environment plays an important and inseparable role in the development of these disorders, SUD also have a strong genetic component associated, indicating that the individual genetic composition exercises a crucial effect in the development of such disorders.