The effects of the COMT Val108/158Met polymorphism on BOLD activation during working memory, planning, and response inhibition: a role for the posterior cingulate cortex?

ABSTRACT: Catechol-O-methyl transferase (COMT) val(108/158)met polymorphism impacts on cortical dopamine levels and may influence functional magnetic resonance (fMRI) measures of task-related neuronal activity. Here, we investigate whether COMT genotype influences cortical activations, particularly prefrontal activations, by interrogating its effect across three tasks that have been associated with the dopaminergic system in a large cohort of healthy volunteers. A total of 50 participants (13 met/met, 23 val/met, and 14 val/val) successfully completed N-Back, Go-NoGo, and Tower of London fMRI tasks. Image analysis was performed using statistical parametric mapping. No significant relationships between COMT genotype groups and frontal lobe activations were observed for any contrast of the three tasks

SUBMITTER: Stokes PR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3055733 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature