One study suggests that the finding may shed light on the physiology of paranoia in general.
U.S. researchers. UU. have identified genetic variants that increase the risk of paranoia in cocaine addicts.
In their study of almost 4,000 people of African and European ancestry, the team of Yale University and the Faculty of Medicine at Boston University examined an area of the genome had previously been shown that it was linked to cocaine dependence and the paranoia induced by this drug.
The researchers conducted a genetic analysis of eleven variants of the gene-endomanosidasa (NSAIDs), which metabolize complex carbohydrates. They found that nine of the variants were related to cocaine-induced paranoia among African Americans and six variants were identified among those of European origin.
Variants were also associated in this area of the genome with cocaine dependence.
The study appears in the March issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.
“We believe these findings are of great interest because of the novelty of the physiological pathway involved,” he said in a press release from Yale Dr. Joel Gelernter, a professor of psychiatry, genetics and neurobiology and director of the Division of Human Genetics in Psychiatry at the Medical Faculty of the university.
“This is one of the great advantages of tackling the entire genome to discover the risk variants for complex traits such as cocaine-induced paranoia. You can learn about mechanisms that probably never would have been considered beforehand. This will open a new line of research on the physiology of cocaine-induced paranoia, and possibly on the symptoms of paranoia, more generally, “said Gelernter.
Tags: Cocaine addicts, Drug, Medicine, Paranoia, Physiology, Symptoms of paranoia
[...] strip to the mountain goat, some people have a small mutation in their DNA that predisposes them to cocaine addiction once they try it. Although this is a very preliminary finding, a team of researchers has found a [...]