來自德州生物醫(yī)學(xué)中心的研究隊(duì)伍，測試了存在酒精依賴問題的美國家庭中1064名不同代際的被試,。在辨識了被試們腦電波的“回應(yīng)”后,，他們發(fā)現(xiàn)了在飲酒和血清素受體基因HTR7之間的強(qiáng)關(guān)聯(lián)。血清素影響情緒與睡眠——通常,，抗抑郁的藥物是通過調(diào)整血清素來發(fā)揮作用的,。
他們讓被試完成一系列指定任務(wù)——以發(fā)現(xiàn)這些有依賴酒精傾向的人們其行為模式的共同之處，之后,，對他們的腦電波進(jìn)行掃描,。他們發(fā)現(xiàn)這些酒精依賴者的孩子們其大腦活動(dòng)有著同樣的模式，這意味著他們有著同樣的嗜酒傾向,。
研究者們進(jìn)一步指出,，某些人更傾向于變得嗜酒是因?yàn)樗麄兊幕颉Ｈ欢?，他們?jiān)持認(rèn)為掃描的圖片非常的復(fù)雜,，基因的區(qū)隔并非終極罪因?；?qū)W家Laura Almasy 說道：許多人對于基因影響嗜酒這個(gè)結(jié)論表示很難接受,。但是我們知道酒精依賴的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)肯定有生物的因素，至少來說,，酒精依賴肯定與你如何代謝酒精有關(guān),。人們大腦的反應(yīng)顯示，生物因素或多或少會影響人們對于酒精依賴的程度,。我們認(rèn)為在普通人群和高危人群之間腦電波模式的這種差異,，是對“更具酒精依賴的人群與普通人群存在生物差異”這一觀點(diǎn)的支持,。
這一研究發(fā)現(xiàn)已經(jīng)發(fā)表在《美國醫(yī)學(xué)遺傳學(xué)期刊B》（American Journal of Medical Genetics B）上，并已發(fā)布在生物醫(yī)學(xué)研究所的研究通訊中,。
Alamasy女士補(bǔ)充道,，腦電波掃描的圖片信息量大，如此復(fù)雜,，因而將血清素受體作為研究目標(biāo)并不是終極研究目的,。（生物谷Bioon.com）
doi:10.1002/ajmg.b.31136
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Genome-wide association study of theta band event-related oscillations identifies serotonin receptor gene HTR7 influencing risk of alcohol dependence
Mark Zlojutro, Niklas Manz, Madhavi Rangaswamy, Xiaoling Xuei, Leah Flury-Wetherill, Daniel Koller, Laura J. Bierut, Alison Goate, Victor Hesselbrock, Samuel Kuperman, John Nurnberger Jr., John P. Rice, Marc A. Schuckit, Tatiana Foroud, Howard J. Edenberg, Bernice Porjesz, Laura Almasy
Event-related brain oscillations (EROs) represent highly heritable neuroelectrical correlates of human perception and cognitive performance that exhibit marked deficits in patients with various psychiatric disorders. We report the results of the first genome-wide association study (GWAS) of an ERO endophenotype—frontal theta ERO evoked by visual oddball targets during P300 response in 1,064 unrelated individuals drawn from a study of alcohol dependence. Forty-two SNPs of the Illumina HumanHap 1M microarray were selected from the theta ERO GWAS for replication in family-based samples (N=1,095), with four markers revealing nominally significant association. The most significant marker from the two-stage study is rs4907240 located within ARID protein 5A gene (ARID5A) on chromosome 2q11 (unadjusted, Fisher's combined P=3.68×106). However, the most intriguing association to emerge is with rs7916403 in serotonin receptor gene HTR7 on chromosome 10q23 (combined P=1.53×104), implicating the serotonergic system in the neurophysiological underpinnings of theta EROs. Moreover, promising SNPs were tested for association with diagnoses of alcohol dependence (DSM-IV), revealing a significant relationship with the HTR7 polymorphism among GWAS case–controls (P=0.008). Significant recessive genetic effects were also detected for alcohol dependence in both case–control and family-based samples (P=0.031 and 0.042, respectively), with the HTR7 risk allele corresponding to theta ERO reductions among homozygotes. These results suggest a role of the serotonergic system in the biological basis of alcohol dependence and underscore the utility of analyzing brain oscillations as a powerful approach to understanding complex genetic psychiatric disorders.
