Abstract
AimsRecent evidence suggests that the opioid system is implicated in the pathophysiology of alcohol use disorder (AUD). We aimed to examine the genetic influence of opioid receptors on susceptibility to AUD and its clinical and psychological characteristics including harmful drinking behavior and various aspects of impulsivity in AUD patients.MethodsThree μ‐opioid receptor gene (OPRM1) variants and two κ‐opioid receptor gene (OPRK1) variants were examined in 314 male patients with AUD and 324 male controls. We applied the Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT), Obsessive Compulsive Drinking Scale (OCDS), and Alcohol Dependence Scale. AUD patients also completed the stop‐signal task, delay discounting task, balloon analogue risk task, and the Barratt Impulsiveness Scale version 11 (BIS‐11).ResultsNo significant differences in genotype distributions or haplotype frequencies were found between AUD patients and controls. However, OPRK1 SNP rs6473797 was significantly related to the severity of alcohol‐related symptoms as measured by AUDIT and OCDS and a haplotype containing rs6473797 was also related to OCDS scores in AUD patients. For other psychological traits, OPRM1 SNP rs495491 was significantly associated with scores on the motor subfactor of the BIS‐11.ConclusionGenetic variations in opioid receptors may contribute to symptom severity and impulsivity in AUD patients.
Highlights
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a complex illness involving multiple genetic and environmental factors
The results of the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) analysis showed no significant association between OPRM1/OPRK1 SNPs and stop‐ signal reaction time (SSRT) calculated from the SST and k values from the delay discounting task (DDT) and Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) representing multidimensional impulsiv‐ ity (Table 6)
This study investigated the associations between five SNPs of the opioid receptor genes OPRM1 and OPRK1 and the affected status of several aspects of alcohol symptom severity and impulsivity related to AUD in Korean male subjects
Summary
Alcohol use disorder (AUD) is a complex illness involving multiple genetic and environmental factors. | 31 disinhibition, the stop‐signal task (SST) is commonly used; in a previ‐ ous study using SST, the patients with alcohol dependence showed impaired inhibitory control.[23] The delay discounting task (DDT) is a well‐known modality to assess the tendency to discount future rewards in relation to impulsive decision making.[24] In relatively re‐ cent years, poor outcomes resulting from risky behavior have been considered an important factor in impulsivity; the Balloon Analogue Risk Task (BART) is being used to measure the dimension of risk‐tak‐ ing propensity.[25] It is important to understand the role of impulsiv‐ ity in AUD by comprehensively considering the various dimensions of impulsivity using self‐rating measures and various performance results. We hypothesize that opioid receptor gene polymorphisms are associ‐ ated with symptom severity and impulsivity in AUD patients
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