Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
Center for Neuroplasticity and Pain (CNAP), SMI®, Department of Health Science and Technology, Aalborg University, Aalborg, Denmark.
Prog Neuropsychopharmacol Biol Psychiatry. 2021 Jun 8;108:110167. doi: 10.1016/j.pnpbp.2020.110167. Epub 2020 Nov 7.
Both genetic and early environmental factors contribute to the pathogenesis of Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD). Gender and psychopathology symptoms might further moderate this association, resulting in an impairment of both the dopaminergic and serotoninergic pathways that sustain the binge, withdrawal and craving cycle. In a sample of of adult children of alcoholic parents (ACOAs) (n = 107) we compared those with and without an AUD, on socio-demographic variables, adverse childhood experiences, psychopathology symptoms and two polymorphisms associated with an impaired serotoninergic and dopaminergic neurotransmission (5HTTLPR and Taq1A/DRD2). A logistic regression revealed that an early caring environment might lower the risk of developing an AUD. When controlling for the actual psychopathology symptoms, being male and having the genotype associated with an impaired dopaminergic neurotransmission were still associated with AUD. Results were confirmed by an unsupervised approach that showed how the clusters characterised by being male and having the high risk genotypes were still associated with AUD compared to being female without the unfavourable dopamine genotype.Our results point to the need for implementing prevention strategies aimed at creating a caring environment especially in those families with an alcoholic parent. We further suggest that psycho-education as a symptom recognition and avoiding self-medication could improve the outcome in those subjects at higher risk, especially males.
遗传和早期环境因素共同导致了酒精使用障碍（AUD）的发病机制。性别和精神病理学症状可能进一步调节这种关联，导致多巴胺能和血清素能途径受损，从而维持狂欢、戒断和渴望循环。在一组酗酒父母的成年子女（ACOAs）（n=107）中，我们比较了那些有和没有 AUD 的人，比较了社会人口统计学变量、不良的童年经历、精神病理学症状和与血清素能和多巴胺能神经传递受损相关的两个基因多态性（5HTTLPR 和 Taq1A/DRD2）。逻辑回归显示，早期的关爱环境可能降低 AUD 的发病风险。当控制实际的精神病理学症状时，男性和携带与多巴胺能神经传递受损相关的基因型仍然与 AUD 相关。无监督方法的结果证实了这一点，该方法显示与女性相比，携带与男性和高风险基因型相关的簇仍然与 AUD 相关，而女性没有不利的多巴胺基因型。我们的结果表明需要实施预防策略，旨在创造一个关爱环境，特别是在那些有酗酒父母的家庭中。我们进一步建议，作为一种症状识别和避免自我药物治疗的心理教育，可以改善那些处于高风险的患者的预后，尤其是男性。
