When scientists are looking for "addiction
genes," they are looking for the biological and environmental differences
that make a person more or less susceptible to
addiction. It might be harder for
certain people with certain genes to quit something once they have already started.
The
question is why are some people so easily addicted to drugs and/or
alcohol, while other people can party and never do it again? Some people may experience more severe
withdrawal symptoms if they try to quit a drug, then others, and some have no withdrawal
systems at all. We sometimes think it's a simple matter of willpower or your
train of thought, but the fact is, it has more to do with the roll of the
genetics. Also the factors that make it harder to become addicted
also may be genetic.
Scientists
and researchers will never find just one single addiction gene. Addiction has been proven as the result of
many interacting genes. Of
course, personal experience, including childhood experiences, environmental and
social influences matter in the role of addiction. Researchers have been
constructing pedigrees of large families with addiction problems as a first
step to understanding the roles and factors of addiction.
A pedigree can reveal whether or not a certain trait has a genetic
component. That means, whether or not
the trait is passed down from parent to child by way of genes. But because
addiction is influenced by multiple genes as well as many other risk factors,
this can be a complicated process. Using this pedigree data, researchers and
scientists can begin to track down genes. Researchers begin by comparing certain
DNA sequences of individuals who are addicted with those individuals who are
not. They can then narrow down the possibilities to identify a small number of
so-called "candidate genes" for addiction. But not every addict will
carry the same gene, and not every person who carries an addiction gene will
exhibit the same trait or get addicted to the same thing, or even get addicted
to anything at all. For example, the A1 allele of the dopamine receptor DRD2
gene is much more common in people addicted to alcohol. Most of these genes wouldn't even have been
discovered without the use of animal studies, mice preferably. These studies on
done on mice shows that the increased expression of the Mpdz gene experience
less withdrawal symptoms from barbiturates then mice without this gene. Also,
certain studies show that people that are non-smokers are more
likely to carry a protective gene, CYP2A6, which causes them to feel more
nausea and dizziness from smoking cigarettes. In alcoholism, it is
rare for people with two copies of the ALDH*2 gene to even become alcoholics,
and people without this gene seem to be more susceptible to this disease. In
both animals and humans, individuals who are less sensitive to these unpleasant
effects have a higher rate of addiction. Regions on chromosomes 4 and 5 that
govern the neurotransmitter GABA appear to play a key role in determining alcohol
tolerance (http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/16/news/genes_addiction.fortune/index.htm).
This study has taught me that addiction happens because
of many factors, whether its genetics, environmental or situational. The fact
or the matter is that addiction is a disease.
Your surroundings, genetics and experiences and maybe just a little will
power, affect your susceptibility to become addicted.
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