Elevated peripheral proline is associated with psychiatric disorders, and there is evidence that proline is a neuromodulator. The proline dehydrogenase (PRODH) gene, which encodes the enzyme that catalyzes proline catabolism, maps to human chromosome 22q11.2, a region conferring risk of schizophrenia. In the Prodh-null mouse, an interaction between elevated peripheral proline and another 22q11....

Reduced catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) activity resulting from genetic variation or pharmacological depletion results in enhanced pain perception in humans and nociceptive behaviors in animals. Using phasic mechanical and thermal reflex tests (e.g. von Frey, Hargreaves), recent studies show that acute COMT-dependent pain in rats is mediated by β-adrenergic receptors (βARs). In order to mor...

BACKGROUND Cardiac surgery-associated acute kidney injury (CSA-AKI) depicts a major complication after cardiac surgery using cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). OBJECTIVE CSA-AKI has clearly been linked to increased perioperative morbidity and mortality. Dysregulations of vasomotor tone are assumed to be causal for CSA-AKI. While catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) is involved in metabolizing catec...

Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) is an enzyme that plays a key role in the modulation of catechol-dependent functions such as cognition, cardiovascular function, and pain processing. Three common haplotypes of the human COMT gene, divergent in two synonymous and one nonsynonymous (val(158)met) position, designated as low (LPS), average (APS), and high pain sensitive (HPS), are associated wit...

The catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) val158met polymorphism affects the breakdown of synaptic dopamine. Consequently, this polymorphism has been associated with a variety of neurophysiological and behavioral outcomes. Some of the effects have been found to be sex-specific and it appears estrogen may act to down-regulate the activity of the COMT enzyme. The dopaminergic system has been implic...

Methylation catalysed by catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) is the main pathway of catechol neurotransmitter deactivation in the prefrontal cortex. Low levels of this class of neurotransmitters are held to be causative of diseases such as schizophrenia, depression and Parkinson's disease. Inhibition of COMT may increase neurotransmitter levels, thus offering a route for treatment. Structure-ba...

BACKGROUND 2-methoxyestradiol (2-ME), a natural metabolite of 17β-estradiol, is synthesized by catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT). The aim of this study was to explore the maternal 2-ME concentration and placental COMT expression in the different trimesters of normal pregnancy and preeclamptic pregnancies, as well as the effects of 2-ME on cell proliferation and migration of HTR-8/SVneo under ...

PURPOSE Alexithymia, defined as a deficit in the ability to recognize and describe one's own feelings, may be related to the development and maintenance of obsessive-compulsive symptoms. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) Val¹⁵⁸Met polymorphism and alexithymia in patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). MATERIALS AND...

Parkinson's disease (PD) is one of the main causes of neurological disability in the elderly. Levodopa is the gold standard for treating this disease, but chronic levodopa therapy is complicated by motor fluctuation and dyskinesia. The catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) inhibitors represent a new class of antiparkinsonian drugs. When coadministered with levodopa/decarboxylase inhibitor, 2 COMT...

Human catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT, EC 2.1.1.6) catalyzes the transfer of the methyl group to a variety of endogenous and exogenous catechol substrates using S-adenosyl-L-methionine as the methyl donor. This enzymatic O-methylation plays an important role in the inactivation of biologically-active and toxic catechols. A number of studies in recent years have sought to characterize the pol...