Fibroblasts cell lines were generated from skin punch biopsies taken from participants enrolled in clinical studies of the effects of alcohol in social drinkers and a treatment trial for problem drinkers at the University of Connecticut Health Center (UCHC). Participants signed a consent form that was approved by the UCHC institutional review board and a punch biopsy sample was taken from the inner, upper arm. Biopsy samples were finely minced and cultured in Dulbecco’s Modified Eagle medium (DMEM, Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA, USA) supplemented with 20% fetal bovine serum (FBS, Invitrogen) to establish primary fibroblast cultures. Fibroblast lines used in the current report were generated from 2 women and 5 men. Four of the participants met criteria for current DSM-IV alcohol dependence, including tolerance to alcohol, while three participants were classified as non-alcohol dependent social drinkers. Cell lines derived from non-alcohol dependent social drinkers are labeled 1, 2, and 3, while alcohol-dependent participants are labeled 4, 5, 6, and 7. The two cell lines derived from women are numbers 4 and 6.
