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Alcohol effects on the percentage of beta waves in the electroencephalograms of twins
Author(s) -
Christian Joe C.,
Li TingKai,
Norton James A.,
Propping Peter,
Yu PaoLo,
Rao D. C.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
genetic epidemiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.301
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 1098-2272
pISSN - 0741-0395
DOI - 10.1002/gepi.1370050403
Subject(s) - heritability , electroencephalography , intraclass correlation , monozygotic twin , dizygotic twin , beta (programming language) , alcohol , ingestion , psychology , audiology , twin study , medicine , biology , developmental psychology , genetics , psychometrics , biochemistry , psychiatry , computer science , programming language
Abstract Electroencephalogram (EEG) recordings were made from 26 pairs of monozygotic (MZ) and 26 pairs of dizygotic (DZ) adult male twins, before and after alcohol ingestion. After a baseline EEG and a light breakfast, 1.2 ml/kg of ethanol was given orally over 15 min and the EEG repeated four times at hourly intervals. Alcohol caused a significant drop in the percentage of beta waves (14–30 cycles/sec) during the 1st hr. For the percentage of beta waves in 38 pairs of twins with complete data, MZ twin beta‐wave intraclass correlations (RMZ) ranged between 0.85 and 0.91 before and after alcohol, but the DZ intraclass correlations (RDZ) started at 0.54 and fell to 0.05 at 2 hr after alcohol before recovering to baseline levels. These correlations resulted in heritability estimates [2(RMZ‐RDZ)] of 0.68 at baseline and 1.73 at 2 hr. A heritability of 1.43 was found for the 1st hr drop in percentage of beta waves (RMZ = 0.78, RDZ = 0.06). These unrealistically high heritabilities, due to RDZ's approaching 0.0, suggest a failure of assumptions in the linear twin model that was used. Also, these findings are similar to, but more exaggerated than, findings in resting EEG's and visually evoked EEG potentials of twins and are compatible with the influence of gene interactions.