Role of novelty seeking personality traits as mediator of the association between COMT and onset age of drug use in Chinese heroin dependent patients.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Personality traits such as novelty seeking (NS) are associated with substance dependence but the mechanism underlying this association remains uncertain. Previous studies have focused on the role of the dopamine pathway.

Objective

Examine the relationships between allelic variants of the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene, NS personality traits, and age of onset of drug use in heroin-dependent subjects in China.

Methods

The 478 heroin dependent subjects from four drug rehabilitation centers in Shanghai who were genotyped for eight tagging single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) on the COMT gene completed the NS subscale from the Temperament and Character Inventory. Multivariate analyses were used to assess the potential mediating role of NS personality

SUBMITTER: Li T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3157337 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature