| Title: | Genetic underpinnings of risky behaviour relate to altered neuroanatomy |
| Journal: | Nature Human Behaviour |
| Published: | 28 Jan 2021 |
| Pubmed: | https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33510390/ |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-01027-y |
| URL: | https://www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/184476/1/862417.full.pdf |
| Citations: | 22 (9 in last 2 years) as of 8 Aug 2024 |
Publication 12886
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Abstract
Previous research points to the heritability of risk-taking behaviour. However, evidence on how genetic dispositions are translated into risky behaviour is scarce. Here, we report a genetically informed neuroimaging study of real-world risky behaviour across the domains of drinking, smoking, driving and sexual behaviour in a European sample from the UK Biobank (N = 12,675). We find negative associations between risky behaviour and grey-matter volume in distinct brain regions, including amygdala, ventral striatum, hypothalamus and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC). These effects are replicated in an independent sample recruited from the same population (N = 13,004). Polygenic risk scores for risky behaviour, derived from a genome-wide association study in an independent sample (N = 297,025), are inversely associated with grey-matter volume in dlPFC, putamen and hypothalamus. This relation mediates roughly 2.2% of the association between genes and behaviour. Our results highlight distinct heritable neuroanatomical features as manifestations of the genetic propensity for risk taking.</p>
21 Keywords
- Adult
- Aged
- Alcohol Drinking
- Amygdala
- Automobile Driving
- Female
- Genome-Wide Association Study
- Gray Matter
- Humans
- Hypothalamus
- Male
- Middle Aged
- Multifactorial Inheritance
- Organ Size
- Prefrontal Cortex
- Putamen
- Risk-Taking
- Sexual Behavior
- Smoking
- United Kingdom
- Ventral Striatum
10 Authors
- Gökhan Aydogan
- Remi Daviet
- Richard Karlsson Linnér
- Todd A. Hare
- Joseph W. Kable
- Henry R. Kranzler
- Reagan R. Wetherill
- Christian C. Ruff
- Philipp D. Koellinger
- Gideon Nave
1 Application
| Application ID | Title |
|---|---|
| 40830 | Brain anatomy and substance use |
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