Naturalistic studies of gene-environment interactions (G X E) have been plagued by several limitations, including difficulty isolating specific environmental risk factors from other correlated aspects of the environment, gene-environment... more
Naturalistic studies of gene-environment interactions (G X E) have been plagued by several limitations, including difficulty isolating specific environmental risk factors from other correlated aspects of the environment, gene-environment correlation (rGE ), and the use of a single genetic variant to represent the influence of a gene. We present results from 235 Finnish young men in two lab studies of aggression and alcohol challenge that attempt to redress these limitations of the extant G X E literature. Specifically, we use a latent variable modeling approach in an attempt to more fully account for genetic variation across the oxytocin receptor gene (OXTR) and to robustly test its main effects on aggression and its interaction with alcohol exposure. We also modeled aggression as a latent variable comprising various indices, including the average and maximum levels of aggression, the earliest trial on which aggression was expressed, and the proportion of trials on which the minimum...
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The multifaceted gut-brain peptide ghrelin and its receptor (GHSR-1a) are implicated in mechanisms regulating not only the energy balance but also the reward circuitry. In our pre-clinical models, we have shown that ghrelin increases... more
The multifaceted gut-brain peptide ghrelin and its receptor (GHSR-1a) are implicated in mechanisms regulating not only the energy balance but also the reward circuitry. In our pre-clinical models, we have shown that ghrelin increases whereas GHSR-1a antagonists decrease alcohol consumption and the motivation to consume alcohol in rodents. Moreover, ghrelin signaling is required for the rewarding properties of addictive drugs including alcohol and nicotine in rodents. Given the hereditary component underlying addictive behaviors and disorders, we sought to investigate whether single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) located in the pre-proghrelin gene (GHRL) and GHSR-1a gene (GHSR) are associated with alcohol use, measured by the alcohol use disorders identification test (AUDIT) and smoking. Two SNPs located in GHRL, rs4684677 (Gln90Leu) and rs696217 (Leu72Met), and one in GHSR, rs2948694, were genotyped in a subset (n = 4161) of a Finnish population-based cohort, the Genetics of Sexual...