Oklahoma Family Health Patterns: A Study Across Generations

描述(由申请人提供)：我们的长期目标是更好地了解酗酒高危人群的易感动机特征。酒精成瘾是一种行为障碍，与遗传和环境有关。有阳性家族史的人患酒精中毒的风险增加是更基本的遗传特征的表现。这些特征被认为源于调节情绪体验和表达的大脑区域的活动改变。本项目将检查有酗酒家族史的人，并根据他们对阿片受体阻滞剂纳曲酮的皮质醇反应进行分类。皮质醇对纳曲酮反应的大小是中枢阿片类药物调节异常升高的有用指标。阿片类药物功能的这种升高也是其他大脑调节系统功能差异的一个指标。这些系统对边缘系统和前额叶皮质的功能产生影响，进而可能为酗酒高危人群动机相关行为的潜在变化提供洞察力。我们计划测试200名健康志愿者，其中100人有酗酒家族史，100人没有家族史。我们预测，在高危个体中，中枢阿片类药物激活的升高将在四个功能领域观察到：1)行为控制不足：个人的积极与消极情绪的气质平衡应该不那么稳定，并倾向于烦躁不安。2)在测试或工作记忆中，认知加工会受到损害。3)在激励条件下，选择行为更倾向于冒险和冲动。行为经济学(延迟贴现)的测试将显示一个较短的时间范围。4)内脏对心理压力的反应将变得迟钝，应激激素、皮质醇和控制心脏的自主神经措施的反应减少。我们的长期目标是对参与这项研究的受试者进行年度跟踪，以寻找决定长期饮酒模式的因素。该项目旨在了解酗酒者子女的年轻成年人的心理和行为特征，以确定那些使他们未来面临酗酒高风险的个人特征。预防复杂的疾病，如酗酒，需要及早确定哪些人处于最高风险，该项目试图提供关于这种风险的新信息。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Our long-term goal is to develop a better understanding of predisposing motivational characteristics of persons at risk for alcoholism. Alcohol addiction is a behavioral disorder with genetic and environmental contributions. Increased risk for alcoholism in persons with a positive family history is an expression of more basic inherited traits. These traits are thought to derive from altered activity of brain regions regulating emotional experience and expression. The present project will examine persons with a family history of alcoholism and classify them according to their cortisol response to naltrexone, an opiate receptor blocker. The magnitude of cortisol response to naltrexone is a useful indicator of an abnormally elevated central opioid regulation. This elevation in opioid function is also an indicator of differential functioning of other brain regulatory systems. These systems have an impact on functioning of the limbic system and prefrontal cortex, and in turn may provide insights into underlying alterations in motivation-related behavior in persons who are at high risk for alcoholism. We plan to test 200 healthy volunteers, 100 with a family history of alcoholism, 100 without. We predict that elevated central opioid activation in high-risk individuals will be observable in four domains of function: 1) Behavioral undercontrol: the person's temperamental balance of positive to negative affect should be less stable and weighted toward dysphoria. 2) Cognitive processing will be impaired on tests or working memory. 3) Choice behaviors will show biases toward risk-taking and impulsivity under motivational conditions. Tests of behavioral economics (delay-discounting) will show a short time horizon. 4) Visceral responses to psychological stress will be blunted, with reduced responses in the stress hormone, cortisol, and autonomic measures controlling the heart. Our longer-term goal is to perform annual follow-ups of subjects who have taken part in the study to seek factors that determine long-term drinking patterns. This project seeks to understand psychological and behavioral characteristics of young adults who are children of alcoholics to identify those personal characteristics that put them at high risk for future alcoholism. Prevention of complex disorders such as alcoholism requires early identification of those persons who are most at risk, and this project seeks to provide new information about such risk.