Genetics of Alcoholism. Does Alcohol Dependence Depend of Race

Alcoholism is very all known occurrence that have a place in every culture. Modern medical definitions describe alcoholism as a disease and addiction which results in a persistent use of alcohol despite negative consequences. Although this definition do not specify current and on-going use of alcohol as a qualifier for alcoholism, some do, as well as remarking on the long-term effects of consistent, heavy alcohol use, include dependence and symptoms of withdrawal. Psychiatric geneticists John I.

Nurnberger, Jr. and Laura Jean Bierut suggest that alcoholism does not have a single cause—including genetic—but that genes do play an important role “by affecting processes in the body and brain that interact with one another and with an individual’s life experiences to produce protection or susceptibility. ” They also report that fewer than a dozen alcoholism-related genes have been identified, but that more likely await discovery. At least one genetic test exists for an allele that is correlated to alcoholism and opiate addiction. Human dopamine receptor genes have a detectable variation referred to as the DRD2 TaqI polymorphism.Those who possess the A1 allele (variation) of this polymorphism have a small but significant tendency towards addiction to opiates and endorphin releasing drugs like alcohol. Although this allele is slightly more common in alcoholics and opiate addicts, it is not by itself an adequate predictor of alcoholism, and some researchers argue that evidence for DRD2 is contradictory.

Also, studies indicate that the proportion of men with alcohol dependence is higher than the proportion of women, 7% and 2. 5% respectively, although women are more vulnerable to long-term consequences of alcoholism.Around 90% of adults in United States consume alcohol, and more than 700,000 of them are treated daily for alcoholism. Professor David Zaridze, who led the international research team, calculated that alcohol had killed three million Russians since 1987. In the United Kingdom, the number of ‘dependent drinkers’ was calculated as over 2. 8 million in 2001. The World Health Organization estimates that about 140 million people throughout the world suffer from alcohol dependence and dominant number of them is European people.

70% of Asian people, according to Svetlana Borinskaya PhD.Laboratory worker of institute of General Genetics behalf of the Vavilov, have a particular gene that works as a protector from alcohol addictive syndrome. My hypothesis statement is that Asian people are less predisposed to become an alcohol addictive that European people. In order to test my hypothesis I will use an experimental method. In my experiment I will need two groups of participants, both groups will be experimental. First group will contain 100 participants that belong to European race, second group will contain 100 participants that belong to Asian race with “Asian” gene of alcoholic protector.In my experiment I will try to select in general alike participant from the physical appearance point of view.

Also they should not be active alcohol users or they should be people that never taste alcohol. There are criteria for participants: males, 25-35 years old, weight 70-90 kg, height 170-190 cm, average constitution, good health, average social status and average economical status. Experiment will last two months. In the beginning of my experiment I will place participants in two houses. During experiment they will have five ingestions per day: breakfast, dinner, snack, lunch and supper.Then every day before ingestion they will receive portion of vine- 400 g. and also they will have an access to vine.

Vine intake before ingestions and free access to vine will lasts one month in the second month we will stop access to vine and also in taking vine before ingestion. And during whole this month observe their behavior. After second month of experiment we will give them a portion of vine. Also directly after experiment we will ask them to evaluate their self-appraisal about them from the alcohol dependence point of view.Then according to participants reaction to final portion of vine and also refers to a self-appraisal of participants we will collect and then analyze data. There are three expected outcomes of the research First, European people will demonstrate less tolerance to alcohol dependence then Asian people and it will mean that my hypothesis is right and “Asian” gene is worked as alcohol dependence protector. Second, there will be no difference between European and Asian people from the tolerance to alcohol dependence point of view it will mean that “Asian” gene do not influence to alcohol protector mechanism.Third, European people will demonstrate higher tolerance to alcohol dependence then Asian people, it will mean that”Asian” gene do not influence to alcohol protector mechanism or works inversely than that we suppose.