We investigated the association between the Val158Met polymorphism of the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene, the Val66Met polymorphism of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene, and white matter changes in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and healthy subjects using diffusion tensor imaging (DTI). We studied 30 patients with MDD (17 males and 13 females, with mean ...

1 Knowledge about the functional status of the frontal cortex in infancy is limited. This study 2 investigated the effects of polymorphisms in four dopamine system genes on performance in 3 a task developed to assess such functioning, the Freeze-Frame task, at 9 months of age. 4 Polymorphisms in the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) and the dopamine D4 receptor 5 (DRD4) genes are likely to im...

Knowledge about the functional status of the frontal cortex in infancy is limited. This study investigated the effects of polymorphisms in four dopamine system genes on performance in a task developed to assess such functioning, the Freeze-Frame task, at 9 months of age. Polymorphisms in the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) and the dopamine D4 receptor (DRD4) genes are likely to impact direc...

CONTEXT Catechol O-methyltransferase (COMT), the major enzyme determining cortical dopamine flux, has a common functional polymorphism (val(158)met) that affects prefrontal function and working memory capacity and has also been associated with anxiety and emotional dysregulation. OBJECTIVES To examine COMT val(158)met effects on corticolimbic circuitry reactivity and functional connectivity d...

Diffusion tensor imaging is widely used to evaluate the development of white matter. Information about how alterations in major neurotransmitter systems, such as the dopamine (DA) system, influence this development in healthy children, however, is lacking. Catechol-O-metyltransferase (COMT) is the major enzyme responsible for DA degradation in prefrontal brain structures, for which there is a c...

BACKGROUND The aim of the study was to test whether the COMT, CYP1A1 and CYP17 genes influence the risk of developing adenomyosis and endometriosis. METHODS We conducted two case-control studies, where the cases (n = 198) had either of the two diseases, and controls (n = 312) were disease-free women. For the COMT gene, we selected the G/A nonsynonymous single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) tha...

Introduction We tested the extent to which the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) Val158Met polymorphism is associated with affective state and evening cortisol levels. We limited our study to women as previous research suggests that the link between COMT genotype and psychological health is entangled by sex differences. Materials and Methods The participants were assessed on measures of anx...

A functional polymorphism of the gene coding for Catechol-O-methyltrasferase (COMT), an enzyme responsible for the degradation of the catecholamine dopamine (DA), epinephrine, and norepinephrine, is associated with cognitive deficits. However, previous studies have not examined the effects of COMT on context processing, as measured by the AX-CPT, a task hypothesized to be maximally relevant to ...

Estrogen is involved in breast carcinogenesis. Hypotheses have been raised that its effect is modified by enzymes such as catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) that deactivate potentially genotoxic estrogen metabolites. We have investigated the association between the functional genetic Val108/158Met polymorphism in COMT and breast cancer risk in a large population-based case-control study perfor...

OBJECTIVE Cognitive impairment is a core feature of schizophrenia, related to dopaminergic dysfunction in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). It is hypothesized that functional single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs4680 of the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene could mediate the relationship between cognition and dopamine activity in the PFC. Other COMT SNPs could also play a role. METHODS We...