The same gene that accounts for part of a genetic risk for developing alcoholism in a U.S. population is found in a Russian population, according to a study by a School of Medicine researcher published in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research.
"These findings help demonstrate that regardless of what different environmental factors in Russia may be at play, the genetic variations still seem to be influencing risk in that population," says Dr. Jaako Lappalainen, assistant professor of psychiatry in the Center for the Translational Neuroscience of Alcoholism at Yale, and first author of the study.
The variations are in a subtype of gamma-amino butyric acid (GABA) receptor, which is the most abundant inhibitory neurotransmitter in the brain. Two large genetic studies in the United States last year identified an association between genetic variations in the GABRA2 receptor subtype and risk for alcohol dependence, Lappalainen notes.
"There are braking neurotransmitters and accelerating neurotransmitters," he says. "GABA is one of the braking neurotransmitters. It puts the brakes on neurons so that they don't get out of control. Activating the function of GABA receptors usually decreases activity in brain neurons and can decrease activity of the entire brain and body, as occurs in general anesthesia. Some of alcohol's effects appear to be mediated through GABRA2."
This gene is often found in persons who do not become alcoholic, but its presence causes a small increase in risk that appears to be consistent across U.S. and Russian populations, Lappalainen says. It is not known how the mechanism increases the risk.
For this study, researchers recruited and drew blood samples from 113 Russian alcohol-dependent men at a St. Petersburg treatment center and 100 local military personnel as controls.
Lappalainen stressed that other genes have been implicated in alcoholism and that the risk of alcohol dependence is also dependent on environment and behavior.
The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Alcoholic Beverage Medical Research Foundation, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Ethel F. Donaghue Women's Health Investigator Program at Yale.
-- By Jacqueline Weaver
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