Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Academic Teaching Hospital Sigmaringen, University of Tuebingen, Germany.
Int J Psychophysiol. 2011 Apr;80(1):11-8. doi: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2011.01.009. Epub 2011 Jan 22.
In the following study we tested the stress response dampening (SRD) model which postulates that stress responses are more likely to be attenuated by alcohol in individuals at risk for alcohol dependence than in persons without that risk. In a laboratory experiment we examined a) if SRD effects exist for both sons and healthy daughters of alcohol dependent fathers, and b) if SRD effects exist for siblings of alcohol dependent males.
We recruited 104 subjects at risk and 51 matched control subjects. In a laboratory experiment, study subjects received alcohol in one of two laboratory sessions and a stress paradigm served to elicit heart rate stress responses.
Heart rate stress responses were attenuated by alcohol in female family history positive (FHP) and female family history negative (FHN) subjects, however not in males. A multiple regression analysis revealed "Heart Rate Stress Response in the Non-Alcohol Condition" and "Blood Alcohol Level" as significant predictors of SRD.
According to our findings, females carry a distinct risk for developing alcohol dependence, regardless of their family history and regardless of their degree of familial relationship. This is an important issue for devising models concerning the development and maintenance of alcohol dependence in females. The study extends the current research literature, which mainly focuses on male subjects at risk, by including female subjects at risk, as well as siblings at risk of both genders.
在以下研究中，我们测试了应激反应衰减（SRD）模型，该模型假定在有酒精依赖风险的个体中，应激反应更有可能被酒精减弱，而在没有这种风险的个体中则不会。在一项实验室实验中，我们检验了 a）有酒精依赖父亲的儿子和健康女儿是否存在 SRD 效应，以及 b）酒精依赖男性的兄弟姐妹是否存在 SRD 效应。
我们招募了 104 名有风险的受试者和 51 名匹配的对照受试者。在一项实验室实验中，研究对象在两次实验室疗程中的一次接受了酒精，而压力范式则用于引发心率应激反应。
心率应激反应在女性家族史阳性（FHP）和女性家族史阴性（FHN）受试者中被酒精减弱，但在男性中没有。多元回归分析显示，“非酒精条件下的心率应激反应”和“血液酒精水平”是 SRD 的显著预测因子。
根据我们的发现，女性无论家族史如何，无论亲缘关系如何，都有明显的酒精依赖风险。这对于制定女性酒精依赖发展和维持的模型是一个重要问题。该研究通过纳入有风险的女性受试者以及有风险的男女兄弟姐妹，扩展了主要关注有风险男性受试者的当前研究文献。
