Many glutamate receptor genes have been identified as risk genes for alcoholism and alcohol-related phenotypes in human studies, including the GluN2A, the mRNA expression of which was now down-regulated in the caudate of alcoholics in this study (Wernicke et al., 2003; Petrakis et al., 2004; Rujescu et al., 2005; Kim et al., 2006; Preuss et al., 2006; Ray et al., 2009; Ridge et al., 2009; Domart et al., 2012; Jin et al., 2014a,b). This evidence concerns the gene GRIN2A and alcohol drinking.