Etiology of alcoholism: relevance of prenatal hormonal influences on the brain, anomalous dominance, and neurochemical and pharmacological brain asymmetry.

Because of possible prenatal hormonal influences on the brain, leading to anomalous dominance, pharmacological and neurochemical asymmetry, and consequent antisocial personality and phobic anxiety, the subject ingests ethanol for its tension-reducing properties via endorphinergic activation and the dopaminergic reward system. Due to presence of stress, and effects of anomalous dominance on ethanol metabolizing enzymes, ethanol-oxidizing systems are activated leading to high rates of ethanol elimination from the blood, and thus the decreased intensity of reaction to ethanol, leading to tolerance. Since stress can cause a decrease in the number of opiate receptors, a vicious cycle of ingesting more and more ethanol may be instituted.