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Developmental trajectory and environmental moderation of the effect of ALDH2 polymorphism on alcohol use.

ABSTRACT: In the aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) gene, the ALDH2*2 allele, prevalent in East Asian populations, encodes an enzyme with severely reduced activity, thereby disrupting the normal metabolism of alcohol. Possession of the ALDH2*2 allele has been repeatedly shown to be associated with lower risk for alcohol dependence and reduced alcohol use. However, relatively few studies have considered whether the magnitude of the effect of ALDH2 polymorphism upon drinking is related to developmental stage or varies by environmental context.In a longitudinally assessed sample of 356 adopted adolescents and young adults of East Asian descent, we examined the progression over time of the relationship between ALDH2 genotype and multiple measures of drinking behavior. We also sought to determine whether the environmental influences of nonbiological parent and elder sibling alcohol use and misuse, as well as deviant peer behavior, moderated the effect of ALDH2 genotype upon alcohol use.Across all measures of alcohol use, the association between ALDH2*2 allele possession and reduced drinking went from negligible to moderate between mid-adolescence and early adulthood. A combined index of adoptive parent alcohol use and misuse consistently moderated the protective effect of the ALDH2*2 allele across the measures of quantity and frequency of alcohol use, and symptomology, such that high parental alcohol use and misuse reduced the protective effect of the ALDH2*2 allele, while low parental alcohol use and misuse enhanced the effect of the allele. Neither a combined index of elder sibling alcohol use and misuse, nor deviant peer behavior was consistently related to the effect of ALDH2 genotype.The protective effect of the ALDH2*2 allele increases over the course of adolescence and young adulthood and is modified by the environmental influence of parental alcohol use and misuse. As such, ALDH2 provides a model system for exploring the nature of gene-environment interplay across development.

SUBMITTER: Irons DE

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3416945 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Developmental trajectory and environmental moderation of the effect of ALDH2 polymorphism on alcohol use.

Irons Daniel E DE Iacono William G WG Oetting William S WS McGue Matt M

Alcoholism, clinical and experimental research 20120507 11

<h4>Background</h4>In the aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) gene, the ALDH2*2 allele, prevalent in East Asian populations, encodes an enzyme with severely reduced activity, thereby disrupting the normal metabolism of alcohol. Possession of the ALDH2*2 allele has been repeatedly shown to be associated with lower risk for alcohol dependence and reduced alcohol use. However, relatively few studies have considered whether the magnitude of the effect of ALDH2 polymorphism upon drinking is related to d ...[more]

PMID: 22563891

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Project description:Mental calculation is thought to be tightly related to visuospatial abilities. One of the strongest evidence for this link is the widely replicated operational momentum (OM) effect: the tendency to overestimate the result of additions and to underestimate the result of subtractions. Although the OM effect has been found in both infants and adults, no study has directly investigated its developmental trajectory until now. However, to fully understand the cognitive mechanisms lying at the core of the OM effect it is important to investigate its developmental dynamics. In the present study, we investigated the development of the OM effect in a group of 162 children from 8 to 12 years old. Participants had to select among five response alternatives the correct result of approximate addition and subtraction problems. Response alternatives were simultaneously presented on the screen at different locations. While no effect was observed for the youngest age group, children aged 9 and older showed a clear OM effect. Interestingly, the OM effect monotonically increased with age. The increase of the OM effect was accompanied by an increase in overall accuracy. That is, while younger children made more and non-systematic errors, older children made less but systematic errors. This monotonous increase of the OM effect with age is not predicted by the compression account (i.e., linear calculation performed on a compressed code). The attentional shift account, however, provides a possible explanation of these results based on the functional relationship between visuospatial attention and mental calculation and on the influence of formal schooling. We propose that the acquisition of arithmetical skills could reinforce the systematic reliance on the spatial mental number line and attentional mechanisms that control the displacement along this metric. Our results provide a step in the understanding of the mechanisms underlying approximate calculation and an important empirical constraint for current accounts on the origin of the OM effect.

Dataset Information

Developmental trajectory and environmental moderation of the effect of ALDH2 polymorphism on alcohol use.

Publications

Developmental trajectory and environmental moderation of the effect of ALDH2 polymorphism on alcohol use.

Similar Datasets

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