Neuroscientists of NSU and SB RAS found the "gene of a cruel, cold-blooded killer"
The neuroscientist of the Department of Physiology of NSU Peter Menshanov, researcher of the Research Institute of Physiology and Fundamental Medicine Elena Cherepkova and scientists from other academic institutes of the SB RAS, members of the Federal Research Center of Cytology and Genetics, published in the leading international journal of Criminalistics Journal of Criminal Justice the results of their research on the problem of committing violent crimes in our society, the press-NSU service.
This work is a vivid example of interdisciplinary research that would be impossible to perform without each of the branches of science involved in it – criminology, psychology and psychiatry, molecular neurobiology, medical genetics, as well as methods of modern applied statistics.
Previously, it was believed that the vast majority of murders and other violent crimes committed are a direct consequence of impulsive aggressiveness in the criminal, which in turn develops in childhood against the background of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). However, the data obtained by scientists indicate that many brutal, planned and "cold-blooded" murders are in no way related to this syndrome. Such "cold-blooded" criminals do not have impulsive cruelty, and they are brought up in prosperous families. At the same time, these criminals have a well-developed "cold", planned aggressiveness, the presence of which is closely related to certain inactive forms of the dopamine receptor D4 in such people.
Dopamine receptor D4 is one of the five types of dopamine receptors in vertebrates. The human dopamine receptor D4 gene was first cloned in 1991. This gene encodes a protein with a length of 387 amino acid residues. Variations of the D4 gene are associated with various behavioral phenotypes and disorders, including autonomic nervous system dysfunction, schizophrenia and a tendency to search for novelty. D4 is synthesized in the brain in a relatively small amount. It is present in the cerebral cortex, hippocampus, striatum and amygdala, found in the retina, heart cells, kidneys and lymphocytes.
The results obtained, described in the article Genotype and haplotype frequencies of the DRD4 VNTR polymorphism in the men with no history of ADHD, convicted of violent crimes (Journal of Criminal Justice, 2015), indicate that the medicinal methods of treatment of ADHD offered in the West, actively used in Western preschool and school institutions, in In many cases, they may be ineffective for preventing the commission of violent crimes in society.
The Federal Research Center for Cytology and Genetics, established on behalf of the President of the Russian Federation (FITC ICiG SB RAS), is expanding due to the accession of three medical scientific organizations: Research Institute of Physiology and Fundamental Medicine with RAMS; Research Institute of Clinical and Experimental Lymphology with RAMS; Research Institute of Therapy and Preventive Medicine.
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30.10.2015