BACKGROUND Blood-oxygen-level dependent functional magnetic resonance imaging (BOLD-fMRI) maps cerebral activity by the hemodynamic response. Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene is involved in the metabolism of dopamine. It is reported that both of these can be used to assess the aggression risk in patients with schizophrenia. However, these methods to assess the aggression risk patients w...

Some epidemiological studies have investigated the relationship between genetic polymorphisms of DRD2, COMT, DBH, and MAO-A and migraine susceptibility, but the results are still inconsistent. Thus, our aim was to further assess the association through a meta-analysis.We examined 5 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in 4 genes, including DRD2 rs1799732 and rs6275, DBH rs7239728, MAI-A-VNTR,...

Choosing and implementing the rules for contextually adequate behavior depends on frontostriatal interactions. Observations in Parkinson's disease and pharmacological manipulations of dopamine transmission suggest that these corticobasal loops are modulated by dopamine. To determine, therefore, the physiological contributions of dopamine to task-rule-related processing, we performed a cue-targe...

Numerous studies demonstrate that the Methionine variant of the catechol-O-methyltransferase Val158Met polymorphism, which confers less efficient catabolism of catecholamines, is associated with increased focal activation of prefrontal cortex (PFC) and higher levels of executive function abilities. By and large, however, studies of COMT Val158Met have been conducted with adult samples and do no...

Linkage studies and epidemiological findings indicate that some possible genes in schizophrenia (SCZ) and bipolar mood disorder (BPD) are common. Numerous evidences for linkage of two diseases on chromosome 22 have been found. These findings suggest that one or more genes in the 22q11.21 region may be involved in the development of both disorders. In the present case-control study, association ...

Caused by a microdeletion at the q11.2 locus of chromosome 22, velo-cardio-facial syndrome (also known as VCFS, 22q11 deletion syndrome, DiGeorge sequence, and conotruncal anomalies face syndrome) is associated with a distinctive physical, neurocognitive, and psychiatric phenotype. Increasing interest has centered on identifying the candidate genes within the deleted region that may contribute ...

BACKGROUND Pain is a complex experience with sensory, emotional and cognitive aspects. Genetic and environmental factors contribute to pain-related phenotypes such as chronic pain states. Genetic variations in the gene coding for catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) have been suggested to affect clinical and experimental pain-related phenotypes including regional mu-opioid system responses to pa...

OBJECTIVE Using a sample of sibling pairs discordant for psychosis, the authors attempted to replicate the findings of previous studies suggesting that the functional genetic polymorphism Val158Met in the catechol O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene influences prefrontal cognitive function and increases the risk for schizophrenia. METHOD Eighty-nine sibling pairs discordant for psychosis were gen...

The cingulate cortex is richly innervated by dopaminergic projections and plays a critical role in attentional control (AC). Evidence indicates that dopamine enhances the neurophysiological signal-to-noise ratio and that dopaminergic tone in the frontal cortex is critically dependent on catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT). A functional polymorphism (val158met) in the COMT gene accounts for some...

Levels of extra-synaptic dopamine in the brain vary as a function of polymorphisms at the val158met locus of the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene. In vivo studies of this polymorphism in the human brain have typically measured patterns of neural activation during dopamine-mediated tasks in adults. This study is the first to investigate the effects of COMT on brain physiology during rest...