Drunk and smart – two lands in the genes
Scientists at the University of Colorado (Denver, USA), working under the leadership of Boris Tabakoff, Laura Saba and Paula Hoffman, identified genes and metabolic pathways and neural mechanisms associated with the amount of alcohol consumed in rats and humans, but not affecting the likelihood of alcoholism. According to the authors, the "lucky ones" who inherited a certain combination of alleles of the studied genes can remain at the level of everyday drinkers for a long time without turning into alcoholics. If you are interested in what combinations of Latin letters these genes are designated, on which chromosomes they are located and which nucleotide substitutions make it possible to drink without getting drunk, read the article "Genetic genomic determinants of alcohol consumption in rats and humans" published in BMC Biology.
In experiments on rats, the authors identified genetic features that influence the formation of "alcoholic behavior". They once again confirmed that the development of alcohol dependence in animals is associated with the mechanisms of reaction to encouragement, pleasure, as well as the regulation of satiety and appetite. After that, they compared the genes of rats involved in the mechanisms of relationships with alcohol with their human counterparts identified in the genotypes of two groups of men living in Montreal (Canada) and Sydney (Australia).
The attitude to drinking in both rats and humans was determined by the two-bottle choice paradigm method generally accepted for the study of any dependencies (as it is not difficult to guess, the subjects are assigned to one of two groups: "thank you, I have enough" and "give two").
Analysis of the results showed that the genes that contribute to the development of cravings for alcohol do not coincide at all with the genes that cause a predisposition to alcoholism.
According to Tabakov, it is well known that drinking a lot of alcohol increases the risk of alcoholism in people with a genetic profile associated with a predisposition to addiction. This relationship is the result of the interaction between genes and environmental factors. It was possible not to waste time and paper on obtaining specific values of a positive correlation between the frequency and amount of alcohol consumed and the likelihood of alcoholism. But this was only the first stage of data processing, and with further analysis, the authors found that the severity of this relationship varies very much, since cravings for alcohol and predisposition to alcoholism are caused by different gene complexes. Individuals genetically predisposed to moderate alcohol consumption may get alleles of other genes that cause the possibility of losing control over the desire to drink and even the development of alcohol dependence. Conversely, a genetic predisposition to large libations, due to the absence of certain genes, may never develop into alcoholism.
The authors emphasize the fact that all individuals who took part in the study do not suffer from alcohol dependence. At the time of the study. I wonder what percentage of the groups that, according to researchers, are genetically doomed to alcoholism and are genetically protected from it, will get drunk in N years?
Evgenia Ryabtseva, Alexander Chubenko
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru based on Science Daily: Genes That Drive You To Drink (But Don't Make You An Alcoholic).
03.11.2009