Fourth, post‐GWAS follow‐up analyses examining neurogenetic and multi‐omic overlap between sensation seeking and alcohol consumption identified associations with genes implicating midbrain dopaminergic neurons (H‐MAGMA) and transcriptional enhancement in the dorsal striatum (stratified GenomicSEM), highlighting key reward pathways associated with heavy alcohol consumption and AUD. The shared enrichment in regions implicated in addiction neurobiology emphasises the critical role of ascending dopaminergic pathways from the basal ganglia and midbrain regions mediating the link between reward‐based incentives and alcohol consumption. 11 , 12 This finding partially replicates recent associations from similar H‐MAGMA analyses 64 and quantitative susceptibility mapping, 65 collectively suggesting that a component of genetic risk for increased alcohol consumption localises to midbrain and basal ganglia structures, and provides an important extension by suggesting that increased sensation seeking may partially explain these previously observed gene–brain–behaviour relations.
