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In the first episode of "Two Brains Are Better Than One," Jillian discusses the genetic predisposition for addiction. She explains that while genes can make a person more likely to become addicted, they do not directly cause addiction. Environment and behavior also play a significant role. Jillian's mom, a special guest, shares her thoughts on the topic. They discuss specific genes related to alcohol abuse and how they affect the body's ability to process alcohol. They also touch on the importance of controlling one's environment and the role of trauma in addiction. Overall, they conclude that addiction is influenced by both genetics and environment, with personal choices playing a significant role. Hey everybody, this is Jillian in the first episode of Two Brains Are Better Than One. And it's the first episode in a possible series for genetically disposed for addiction or addictive personalities. This personally interests me because I have family members that do struggle with addiction, so I was naturally curious about the topic. I personally don't struggle with any sort of substance abuse, and I don't have the same struggles as my family members do have. That does pose a pretty interesting question that we'll be talking about today is how much your environment is incorporated in the addiction of alcohol. Today we'll be talking with a special guest that happens to be my mom, and she hasn't been present to class at all this semester, and she has no knowledge of what we've talked about in genetics. And she'll kind of just jump in whenever she feels and give her two cents and opinions, and I appreciate her being here today. And she'll go ahead and introduce herself, so let's go ahead and get started. Hi, my name is Pam. I'm Jillian's mom. So happy to be here with you today. In genetics, scientists do believe that there are around 20,000 different genes that make up the human body. Genes explain a lot of things about a person, not everything, but it explains hair color, eye color, different medical conditions that can be passed down, and in some cases, alcohol abuse disorder. A person's genetics does not cause addiction, but it does make you predisposed or more likely to become addicted once a person partakes in a substance such as an alcoholic beverage. The genes themselves do not necessarily cause addiction. There are many factors like environment and behavior. So that means because my dad's an alcoholic, I would be more likely to be one if I started to drink. Yeah, kind of. When you see multiple members of a family having the same addiction or addictive traits, or even when adopted children are more likely to have addiction issues due to their biological parents having addiction-related issues, according to the studies that we found in the research. Genetics does play some role or some type of role in addiction, but there is not just one gene that says that you're an alcoholic or you're the addiction gene or the alcoholic gene. There are many genes that play a role in this. Some researchers say that the addiction quality is up to hundreds of genes, not just one individual gene. Okay, so I would have to actually have several hundred genes to make me more likely to be an addict than just the one gene. Yeah, it would have to be several hundreds of genes. There are two specific genes related to alcohol abuse, though, and those are the ALDH2 gene and the ADH1B gene. Now, those genes are present in every single person. It is most associated with the development of treatment outcomes in IUD patients, and IUD is known for chronic brain disease that is from opioid use disorder. Now that we found that this is in IUD patients with ALDH2 genes, it means that the genotypes are inactive and it performs not as well in attention and memory domains that is in a person that has the active genotype. The ALDH2 is the enzyme that is important to digest, acetaldehyde, which prevents your body from repairing the damage. Now that it's mostly for influence on drinking behaviors, or is it the risk of developing alcohol dependence? The ALDH2 gene is one of the major isozymes that contains oxidation of dopamine, which is important to note for the neurotransmitter for addiction. With this gene having an inactive genotype, causing more impulsive communication errors, or commission errors, having slower and lower reaction times with poor vision and poor visual memory function, rather than those with an active ALDH2 gene. Alright mom, what are your thoughts on the physical side effects of the inactive genotypes? So if this gene is not working, then my body is not going to be able to repair the damage that is caused by alcohol. That sounds terrible. The ADH1B gene is most commonly found in people from Asian descent. But those who carry the ADH1B variant of the ADH gene, which is alcohol dehydrosis gene, regulates how the alcoholic substance converts alcohol to a substance called acetaldehyde, which we just talked about, prevents your body from repairing damage. I might have said earlier that the ADH1B gene is a gene, and that's true, but there are variants of the gene like the ARG47HIS variant, which is associated with the decrease of cancer risk in the SNPS variant, which is also decreased alcohol dehydrosis, and two main variants of the gene being the ADH1B and the ALDH2 genes, that are encoding enzymes, aldehyde digests, that are mentioned a few seconds ago, are most commonly found in people of Asian descent. That makes it more likely to become a dependent on a substance like alcohol, rather than someone who lacks this specific gene. The ADH1B gene does regulate the rate of alcohol clearance from the liver, although the gene, which I discussed earlier, has the ADH gene, which overall processes the alcohol, quickly raising the levels of acetaldehyde, which, talked about earlier, prevents your body from repairing the damage. The alcohol digestion does cause the hangovers that people experience. So, you don't know which gene you have until you drink, and then you just wait and see what happens. Yeah. Those specific variants of the gene have to do with a person's body breakdown, and that how it processes alcohol. The two genes that are known to build up in the acetaldehyde prevents, like we talked about earlier, prevents your body from repairing itself, or repairing the damage, which can happen when you drink too much alcohol, and it can cause difficulty breathing, a flush look on you, nausea, sickness, and overall unpleasant behavior. With the two genes, the ALDH2 gene and the ADH1B gene, a person that has both of them in their DNA sequence is more likely to feel worse when drinking, opposed to a person that doesn't have those genes. When having those two genes in a person will be less likely drawn to the alcoholic substance, or any specific addiction. Another factor for addiction is the tolerance buildup. Tolerance is something that develops over time when abusing a substance, causing it to be harder to develop the high some people might be chasing when they do partake in the substances. Most of the time, the chasing of the high does result in the need to intake more of that substance that they're trying to get the dopamine high from, which is causing a person to have the side effects that they want, or that they're chasing. Alright mom, what do you think about the specific genes and having the effect on possible alcohol abuse? Okay, so it seems like in some cases the genes work for you, but then in some cases the genes are working against you. Yes, but when talking about tolerance, some researchers believe that the DNA that contains the CYP2E gene affects alcohol tolerance, and this gene does not contribute or enhance alcohol tolerance, which does often result in more alcohol consumption. This main function of the gene is to digest several antipsychotic medications and medications that treat asthma. This specific gene digests not only ethanol, but some other compounds, meaning medications also. What I have found is that around 50-60% of a person's risk is if they're genetically predisposed or have a family history of alcohol or other forms of a substance abuse. When I say 50-60%, it means genetic chances of hundreds of genes causing how a person will or how they digest alcohol, sensitivity to alcohol, the overall tolerance of a person and how it would have with a genetic component, the symptoms of withdrawal and how the alcohol will affect a person's bodily organs or their body in general. A person can't control their genetics, but they most definitely can control the environment they put themselves in. So you're saying that your body already has genes to break down antipsychotic meds just in case you ever need to take them? That is crazy. Yes, but I have a question. What do you think about all this? That statistic is pretty high, and it seems that most cases of alcoholism is based on your environment. Do you personally agree? Yes, I agree with that. Yes, I agree with that. So because my dad is an alcoholic, I feel like it's best for me just to avoid alcohol altogether. Some people who are addicted to alcohol have a certain genetic makeup are able to take naltrexone, which is what some people use to deal with alcohol addiction to help stop them. Naltrexone is not a narcotic. It works to block the effects of a narcotic or abusive substances. It is used to help a narcotic-dependent person to stop taking substances mostly, but it is being used to help alcoholics stay alcohol-free in most recent years. In more detail, the naltrexone can cause withdrawal symptoms just like when you quit drinking or using, but however long you are using will affect the side effects and how badly they will affect you. When I mentioned earlier that you can't change your genes, but you most definitely can control the environment, some examples of that would be being aware of engaging in sober activities, spending time with people who support you and understand your reasonings and choices, avoid going out and binge drinking, do not go self-medicate with alcohol substances, and setting drinking limits to moderate yourself. Okay, so kind of like when I said before that maybe it would be best for me to avoid alcohol altogether, it would just be really smart for me to be aware of my boundaries. Genetics is not the only reason to become addicted to a substance. Some of the reasoning can be found with trauma. This would be for a person who has a certain genetic makeup that makes them genetically predisposed for alcoholism. A person who has a certain genetic makeup that makes them genetically predisposed for alcoholism, going through some type of trauma, would be more likely, according to research, to turn into an alcoholic or self-medicate rather than a person who is not genetically predisposed. Some other reasons people turn to self-medication or medicating with alcoholic substances is due to starting from a young age difficulty controlling their impulses like depression or schizophrenia. According to all this information, around half of a person's genetic makeup is a factor for an addiction to alcohol specifically. A person might not be able to control their genetics in their family histories, but they can control their environment, which seems to be a common theme that we found throughout the research. Now, in the introduction of the podcast, I mentioned, do we have any reason to believe that addiction is genetically predisposed, or is it an addictive personality that's passed down? With the research that I found, it seems that addictive personalities is a myth, and it is more your environment and what your components of your genetics hold. So, basically, it just comes down to the choices that we make. Yes, kind of. Environment factors and epigenetic factors are something people can control. We've talked about epigenetics in the class over the semester. A good way to describe epigenetics, at least in the way we've talked about, is that epigenetics can not only change based on cell types, but based on conditions of the environment and timing. These changes that epigenetics are across multiple generations. The epigenetic regulation in post-myotic cells, like neurons, did bring some debate in the research that I found. The epigenetic regulatory mechanisms, including modifications to histones and transcription factors, DNA modifications by methylation and cytosine, excess and control of gene expression by the non-coding RNAs. We talked about some of these factors and modifications in class this semester. The histones are to bind to the DNA and help give chromosomes their shape and control over the activity of genes. The methylation is a modification of the genes, well, modification of the DNA and other molecules that could be retained as cells divide to make more cells. Well, this has been very educational and also feels a little bit like therapy. Thanks for having me on your podcast. Two brains are better than one. All right, so in conclusion, we've covered everything we're going to in this episode. We've talked a little bit about how much of a genetic component is the tendency to be addicted to alcohol or how much of this is a part of your environment and a person or the situations a person puts themselves in. We also talked about some specific genes and how they are acting, like being inactive versus being active. We talked about some of the percentages of how much genetics is a factor with addiction. We also talked a little bit about the addictive personalities and how much of a factor that plays into addiction of alcohol. Anyways, that's all the time we have for today. I appreciate everyone taking the time out of today to listen and I have an amazing mom to be a part of this with me. I appreciate and I'm definitely grateful for her talking today and taking the time to do this. I hope everyone that listened enjoyed, maybe learned a few things. I appreciate all of you and enjoy the rest of your day. Maybe we can do this again. Bye.