NEUROPHYSIOLOGY IN CHILDREN AT HIGH RISK FOR ALCOHOLISM

在过去的二十年里，家庭研究、双胞胎研究和收养研究 为遗传因素的存在提供了令人信服的证据 酗酒的倾向。这些研究令人信服地 证明酗酒父亲的男性后代处于高风险(HR) 与低风险(LR)人群形成对比，如酗酒 父亲不酗酒的儿子。在过去的十年里，我们的实验室 和其他研究人员一样，观察到了一些神经生理学 人力资源受试者的异常。绝大多数研究都注意到 事件相关电位的P3成分的波幅。 (ERP)在HR男性中显著降低。此外，我们还观察到 与具体项目有关的企业资源规划各构成部分的其他缺陷 信息处理任务。 最近来自遗传流行病学研究的令人信服的证据表明 父亲酗酒的女儿和酗酒者的儿子面临同样的风险 父亲。这一新的科学证据引导我们调查了以前的 被忽视的人群，即：酗酒父亲的女儿。我们建议 使用几个在人力资源男性中测试的标准ERP范例，并介绍一个新的 测试特定神经生理学假说的一套事件相关电位范例。 最后，我们计划开发数据分析程序，如小波 分析，特别适用于企业资源规划分析。 女性高血压病患者潜在神经电缺陷的识别 类似于男性的风险将为建立 新的表型描述符在遗传分析和遗传分析中非常有用 预防举措。

In the last two decades family studies, twin studies, and adoption studies have provided compelling evidence for the presence of genetic factors in the predisposition toward alcoholism. These studies have convincingly demonstrated that male offspring of alcoholic fathers are at high risk (HR) to develop alcoholism in contrast to low risk (LR) individuals, such as sons of nonalcoholic fathers. For the past ten years, our laboratory, as well as other investigators, have observed a number of neurophysiological anomalies in HR subjects. The great majority of the studies have noted that the amplitude of the P3 component of the event-related potential. (ERP) is significantly reduced in HR males. In addition, we have observed other deficits in various components of the ERP related to specific information processing tasks. Recent convincing evidence from genetic epidemiological studies demonstrate that daughters of alcoholic fathers are at equal risk as sons of alcoholic fathers. This new scientific evidence leads us to investigate a previously neglected population, namely: daughters of alcoholic fathers. We propose to use a few standard ERP paradigms tested in HR males, and introduce a new set of ERP paradigms testing for specific neurophysiological hypotheses. Finally, we plan to develop data analytic procedures such as wavelet analysis, as applied specifically to ERP analysis. The identification of potential neuroelectric deficits in females at high risk similar to those in males would provide novel insight in establishing new phenotypic descriptors of great utility in genetic analysis and prevention initiatives.