Specific personality traits and dopamine, serotonin genes in anxiety–depressive alcoholism among Han Chinese in Taiwan

Abstract

Background Cloninger [Cloninger CR. 1987. Neurogenetic adaptive mechanisms in alcoholism. Science 236: 410–416.] had proposed a psychobiological model suggesting that three main personality dimensions distinguish the alcoholism into two subtypes (type I and type II). However, the classification was equivocal for clinical diagnosis. Recently, anxiety–depressive alcohol dependence (ANX/DEP ALC) has been posited as a genetically specific subtype of alcoholism. Its clinical characteristics were similar to individuals with type I alcoholism [Cloninger, C.R. 1987. Neurogenetic adaptive mechanisms in alcoholism. Science 236: 410–6.] such as having a high comorbidity with mood disorder, late-onset and more anxious/depressed traits. We attempted to investigate whether the dopamine D2 receptor ( DRD2) and the serotonin transporter promoter region ( 5-HTTLPR) genes were involved in Novelty Seeking (NS) and Harm Avoidance (HA) of ANX/DEP ALC. Methods We recruited 46 pure alcohol dependents (Pure ALC) and 87 anxiety–depression alcohol dependents (ANX/DEP ALC). All participants were diagnosed by DSM-IV criteria, genotyped by the PCR method and assessed with Tridimensional Personality Questionnaire (TPQ). Results Both NS and HA were high in ANX/DEP ALC ( p = 0.021; p = 0.001, respectively). The association between NS and ANX/DEP ALC only existed in subjects with DRD2 TaqI A1 + allele ( A1/A1 or A1/A2 genotypes) ( p = 0.004) and in those with S/S genotype of 5-HTTLPR ( p = 0.005). With the stratification of DRD2 TaqI A1 + allele, high NS of ANX/DEP ALC existed only in carriers of 5-HTTLPR S/S genotype ( p = 0.001). Moreover, ANX/DEP ALC was related to high HA only in samples carrying 5-HTTLPR S/L or L/L genotype ( p = 0.02). Conclusions These findings provided the empirical genetic characterization of the specific personality traits in ANX/DEP ALC among Han Chinese population in Taiwan.