COMT Val158Met genotype influences neurodegeneration within dopamine-innervated brain structures.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

We sought to determine whether the Val(158)Met polymorphism in the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene influences neurodegeneration within dopamine-innervated brain regions.

Methods

A total of 252 subjects, including healthy controls and patients with Alzheimer disease, behavioral variant frontotemporal dementia, and semantic dementia, underwent COMT genotyping and structural MRI.

Results

Whole-brain voxel-wise regression analyses revealed that COMT Val(158)Met Val allele dosage, known to produce a dose-dependent decrease in synaptic dopamine (DA) availability, correlated with decreased gray matter in the region of the ventral tegmental area (VTA), ventromedial prefrontal cortex, bilateral dorsal midinsula, left dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and right

SUBMITTER: Gennatas ED 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3359506 | biostudies-literature | 2012 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature