Allelic variants of ADH, ALDH and the five factor model of personality in alcohol dependence syndrome

Abstract

Background:The etiology of alcohol dependence is a complex interplay of biopsychosocial factors. The genes for alcohol-metabolizing enzymes: Alcohol dehydrogenase (ADH2 and ADH3) and aldehyde dehydrogenase (ALDH2) exhibit functional polymorphisms. Vulnerability of alcohol dependence may also be in part due to heritable personality traits.Aim:To determine whether any association exists between polymorphisms of ADH2, ADH3 and ALDH2 and alcohol dependence syndrome in a group of Asian Indians. In addition, the personality of these patients was assessed to identify traits predisposing to alcoholism.Materials and Methods:In this study, 100 consecutive males with alcohol dependence syndrome attending the psychiatric outpatient department of a tertiary care service hospital and an equal number of matched healthy controls were included with their consent. Blood samples of all the study cases and controls were collected and genotyped for the ADH2, ADH3 and ALDH2 loci. Personality was evaluated using the neuroticism, extraversion, openness (NEO) personality inventory and sensation seeking scale.Results:Allele frequencies of ADH2*2 (0.50), ADH3*1 (0.67) and ALSH2*2 (0.09) were significantly low in the alcohol dependent subjects. Personality traits of NEO personality inventory and sensation seeking were significantly higher when compared to controls.Conclusions:The functional polymorphisms of genes coding for alcohol metabolizing enzymes and personality traits of NEO and sensation seeking may affect the propensity to develop dependence.

Predictive utility of the NEO-FFI for later substance experiences among 16-year-old adolescents

“…These results were not significant however, as they were for Malouff et al in tobacco smokers (Malouff et al 2007) and for Salujha in alcohol dependent participants (Salujha et al 2014) as well as Vollrath and Torgersen in alcohol consumers (Vollrath and Torgersen 2008). As these are cross-sectional studies, the results suggest that Neuroticism plays an important role in maintaining substance use but not necessarily in developing it.…”

“…Synopsis studies suggest that substance use is mainly found in participants with a high score of Neuroticism, Extraversion, Openness and low score of Agreeableness and Conscientiousness (Clark et al 2012;Fridberg et al 2011;Malouff et al 2007;McCann 2010;Salujha et al 2014;Vollrath and Torgersen 2008;Waga and Iwahashi 2007): Concerning tobacco consumption Waga and Iwahashi found significantly high scores of Openness in Japanese students who smoke (Waga and Iwahashi 2007). In their meta-analysis Malouff et al revealed an association between alcohol consumption and high score of Neuroticism as well as low scores of Agreeableness and Conscientiousness (Malouff et al 2007).…”

“…In their meta-analysis Malouff et al revealed an association between alcohol consumption and high score of Neuroticism as well as low scores of Agreeableness and Conscientiousness (Malouff et al 2007). So did Salujha et al who additionally found high scores of Extraversion and Openness in alcohol dependent participants (Salujha et al 2014) . In another study participants with high scores of Neuroticism and Extraversion did not only drink more alcohol than other participants but were also more prone to taking illicit drugs (Vollrath and Torgersen 2008).…”

“…This is supported by the findings in the present study as well in other studies (Pluess and Bartley 2015;Zvolensky et al 2015).While for low scores of Conscientiousness Pluess and Bartley as well as Zvolensky et al revealed the predictive value for later substance use, for low scores of Agreeableness Mallouff et al as well as Salujha et al and Fridberg et al could only reveal an association, no study -as far as known -showed Agreeableness to be a predictive factor. Concomitant, several studies revealed an association between low scores of Conscientiousness and substance use (Fridberg et al 2011;Malouff et al 2007;Salujha et al 2014), suggesting Conscientiousness being the most important predictive value of the dimensions of the NEO FiveFactor-Model of personality for later substance use and being an important factor for maintaining substance use.…”

“…Since most studies have a cross-sectional design, they focus on the association between the scores of the five dimensions of the NEO Five-Factor-Model of personality and substance use (Clark et al 2012;Fridberg et al 2011;Malouff et al 2007;McCann 2010;Salujha et al 2014;Vollrath and Torgersen 2008;Waga and Iwahashi 2007). Only few longitudinal studies exist with the focus on the predictive value of these dimensions for later substance use.…”