The human brain tissues were obtained postmortem from four brain regions of 60 individuals (30 subjects with AUD and 30 social/non-drinkers) from the New South Wales Brain Tissue Resource Center (NSWBTRC) at the University of Sydney. Alcohol-dependent diagnoses of the 30 AUD subjects met the American Psychiatric Association DSM-IV criteria [14], and were confirmed by physician interviews, review of hospital medical records, questionnaires to next-of-kin, and from pathology, radiology, and neuropsychology reports. The control group consisted of 30 social/non-drinker samples, which were matched with the 30 AUD subjects based on age, sex, postmortem interval, pH of tissue, and cause of death. Additional selection criteria included >18 years of age, no head injury at time of death, lack of developmental disorder, no recent cerebral stroke, no history of other psychiatric or neurological disorders, no history of intravenous or polydrug abuse, negative screen for AIDS and hepatitis B/C, and postmortem interval within 48 h.
