Monday, February 9, 2015

Motion Sickness and Genetics

When people think about motion sickness, many do not understand the role that genetics plays with it. In simple terms, motion sickness is a condition that occurs in individuals that experience nausea, vertigo or migraines when traveling in a moving vehicle. It is fairly common--affecting approximately one in three people--and has been shown to have high heritability.

Recently, a genetics company, 23andMe conducted a study involving 80,000 of their customers to understand the genetics of motion sickness. The study found that there are 35 genetic factors associated with motion sickness at the genome-wide significant level. These genetic factors are referred to as single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs).


What was interesting was that most of these SNPs were found in or near genes that are involved eye, ear, balance, and cranial development. Others were found near genes that have a role in the nervous system, glucose homeostasis, or hypoxia. Additionally, the study revealed that SNPs exhibit sex-specific effects--women endured stronger effects (three times more) than men did.The study was also able to conclude that these genes were also linked to other conditions such as migraines, morning sickness, and postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV).

Since the study indicated that the nervous system plays an important role with motion sickness, it can possibly help researchers understand the genetics of motion sickness better. Possible risk factors and future treatments can be outlined given the results of the study. This would be a wonderful advancement in order to help target the issue underlying motion sickness. Being one that suffers from some mild cases of motion sickness, future research would be very beneficial.

Original article: click here.
Related Article: click here.


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