are gambling addictions genetic
In Ontario, individuals from the Greater Toronto Area who perceived their gambling as excessive were invited to participate in a genetic study. These individuals were recruited through advertisements in the community and at problem gambling treatment centers. Thus, Ontario provided an enriched sample for DG. INCREASING THE ODDS Volume 6 Gambling and the Brain 3 RESEARCH SUMMARY Neurobiology and Pathological Gambling by Jon E. Grant, M.D., J.D., M.P.H. University of MinnesotaA summary of the following publication: Grant, J.E., Brewer, J.A., & Potenza, M.N. (2006). The neurobiology of substance andbehavioral addictions. Addiction-related genes in gambling disorders: new insights from parallel human and pre-clinical models. D S S Lobo, L Aleksandrova, J Knight, D M Casey, N el-Guebaly, J N Nobrega and J L Kennedy. 1  1 Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, ON, Canada. 14 INCREASING THE ODDS Volume 6 Gambling and the Brain RESEARCH SUMMARY Brain Imaging Studies: A Review By Anna E. Goudriaan, Ph.D. University of AmsterdamA summary of the publication: van Holst, R.J., van den Brink, W., Veltman, D.J. & Goudriaan, A.E. (2010). Brain imagingstudies in pathological gambling. Genes are unlikely to be the sole cause of an addiction. “Gambling addiction can be inherited,” the Daily Mail reported. The newspaper said, “if one of your parents is addicted to gambling the odds are high that you will be as well, research has revealed”. This study in 2,889 pairs of twins investigated the role of genetic and environmental factors in the development of gambling addiction. INCREASING THE ODDS Volume 6 Gambling and the Brain 21 dopamine systems, we can improve our understanding of the neural and neurochemicalbasis of gambling and the treatment of pathological gambling. This study hypothesized: 1. Drugs that enhance dopamine function will impair performance.2. Table 2 - Genetic associations with disordered gambling (DG) in a sample of 400 DG and 345 non-DG subjects, allelic association tests and logistic regression analysis with gender and age as covariates. Shifting perspectives on gambling and addiction. Journal of Gambling Studies, 19 (1), 1-6.van Holst, R. J., van den Brink, W., Veltman, D. J., & Goudriaan, A. E. (2010). Brain imagingstudies in pathological gambling. Current Psychiatry Reports, 12 (5), 418-425.Zeeb, F. D., Robbins, T. W., & Winstanley, C. A. (2009). Neurobiological research supports the characterization of disordered gambling (DG) as a behavioral addiction. Recently, an animal model of gambling behavior was developed (rat gambling task, rGT), expanding the available tools to investigate DG neurobiology. Our results corroborate previous findings reporting the involvement of DRD3 receptor in addictions. To our knowledge, the use of human genetics, pre-clinical models and gene expression as a cross-translation paradigm has not previously been attempted in the field of addictions.
Yes