The gene encoding catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) is a strong candidate for schizophrenia susceptibility, owing to the role of COMT in dopamine metabolism, and the location of the gene within the deleted region in velocardiofacial syndrome, a disorder associated with high rates of schizophrenia. Recently, a highly significant association was reported between schizophrenia and a COMT haploty...

Introduction: Stress inhibits the development of tolerance to morphine analgesia via activating Hypothalamic- Pituitary-Adrenal (HPA) axis. Modified catecholamine systems have been reported following morphine tolerance development. In the current study we tried to evaluate changes in the gene expression levels for MAO-A, MAO-B, COMT and thyrosine hydroxylase (TyH) enzymes following chronic p...

BACKGROUND Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM) is an uncommon lung disease for which no effective method of treatment has been found. The predilection of LAM for premenopausal women has led to the assumption that hormonal factors play an important role in the pathogenesis of this disease. The aim of this study was to determine if women with LAM manifest alterations in the catechol-O-methyltransferas...

Abstract Aggression is a commonly hostile behavior linked to the hippocampal activity. Childhood trauma (CT) exposure has been associated with altered sensitization of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and volume, which could increase violent aggressive behaviors. Additionally, Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT), major dopamine metabolism enzyme, implicated in stress responsivity, incl...

Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) catalyzes the O-methylation of catechol estrogens (CEs), using S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) as a methyl donor. Several studies have indicated that the val108met COMT polymorphism, which results in a 3-4-fold decrease in activity, is associated with increased breast cancer risk. Folate, whose intake levels have also been associated with breast cancer risk, and o...

Evidence suggests that dopamine levels in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) modulate executive functions. A key regulator of PFC dopamine is catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT). The activity level of the COMT enzyme are influenced by sex and the Val158Met polymorphism (rs4680) of the COMT gene, with male sex and Val alleles both being associated with higher bulk enzyme activity, and presumably lower ...

In the rat, the catechol O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene has been found to contain two promoters, P1 and P2. This organization enables the gene to produce a soluble (S-COMT) and a membrane-associated (MB-COMT) protein by using two in-frame ATG initiation codons (S- and MB-ATG). The P1 promoter expresses a 1.6 kb transcript (S-mRNA) which codes for the S-COMT polypeptide only. Here we demonstrat...

and epinephrine) play important roles not only in the peripheral nervous system but in the central one. One of the inactivation pathways of CAs is the enzymatic metabolism by catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT; EC2.1.1.6), which methylates their catechol moieties using S-adenosyl-L-methionine (SAMe) as a methyl donor. There are two COMT isoforms: in the cytoplasm as soluble COMT (S-COMT) and in...

The temperature-induced paralysis of comatose (comt) mutants of Drosophila is suggestive of a function for N-ethylmaleimide-sensitive fusion factor (NSF) in the CNS. Mutations in the para gene encoding the subunit of the voltage-gated sodium channel also result in a similar phenotype. We show that paralysis in comt flies is activity-dependent, and in the doubly mutant comt para flies comt-like ...