1Department of Molecular Biology, Adelson School of Medicine, Ariel University, Ariel, Israel
2Division of Addiction Research and Education, Center for Sports, Exercise, and Mental Health, Western University of Health Sciences, Pomona, CA., USA
3Division of Clinical Neurology, The Kenneth Blum Institute of Neurogenetics and Behavior, LLC, Austin, TX, USA
4Department of Psychiatry, University of Vermont School of Medicine, Burlington, VA, USA
5Institute of Psychology, ELTE Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
6Department of Psychiatry, Wright University Boonshoff School of Medicine, Dayton, OH, USA
7Behavioral Neuropharmacology and Neuroimaging Laboratory on Addictions, Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biosciences, Clinical Research Institute on Addictions, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY, USA
8Division of Personalized Pain Therapy Research, Center for Advanced Spine Care of Southern Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA
9Department of Orthopaedics, Fundación Universitaria Sanitas, Bogotá D.C., Colombia
10Department of Orthopedics at Hospital Universitário Gaffree Guinle Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
11Cellular and Molecular Research Center, School of Medicine, Guilan University of Medical Sciences, Rasht, Iran
12Department of Psychiatry, Harvard University College of Medicine, Cambridge, MA, USA
13Department of Psychiatry, Stanford University School of Medicine, Palo Alto, CA, USA
14Department of Medicine, University of California, Riverside School of Medicine, Riverside, CA, USA
15Department of Radiation Oncology, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, USA
16Division of Personalized Neuromodulation, PeakLogic, LLC., Del Mar, CA, USA
17Department of Psychiatry, Texas Tech University Health Sciences School of Medicine, Lubbock, Tx, USA
This expert opinion will detail the gene addiction connection: gene alleles and genetic testing. The Neurogeneticist Kenneth Blum, with Ernest Noble, published the first study to associate an allele of the Dopamine D2 Receptor Gene (DRD2) and severe alcoholism in JAMA 1990. This research confirmed an association preempted by a theoretical construct that identified the neurotransmitter interaction leading to dopamine release in the mesolimbic system as the “Brain Reward Cascade” in 1989. Earlier basic research had identified the role endorphins played in alcoholism, the blocking effect of Naloxone, an opioid-receptor antagonist in alcohol dependence, and supported the concept of a common mechanism between alcohol and opiates. Blum., et al. also developed a theory based on binding studies and other basic research that identified a “hypodopaminergic” trait/state caused by either genetics, stress, or toxicity as “Reward Deficiency Syndrome” (RDS). Blum’s group developed a nutraceutical therapy (scientific code) KB220Z to treat RDS and the Addiction Risk Severity (GARS) test to identify genetic risk for RDS. Reward deficiency syndrome, characterized as a relative failure of the neurotransmitter system in brain reward mechanisms, has been linked to dopaminergic dysfunction, acute excess, or chronic deficit of dopamine release in the brain reward circuitry. The reward deficiency behaviors include drug and non-drug addictive, compulsive, and impulsive behaviors.
Keywords: Genetic Addiction Risk Severity (GARS); Addiction Medicine; Pre-Addiction Phenotype
Kenneth Blum., et al. “Genetic Addiction Risk Severity (GARS) Test in Addiction Medicine: Early Identification of Pre-Addiction Phenotype”. EC Neurology 16.11 (2024): 01-21.
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