Catechol-O-methyltransferase Val158Met polymorphism modulates gray matter volume and functional connectivity of the default mode network.

ABSTRACT: The effect of catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) Val158Met polymorphism on brain structure and function has been previously investigated separately and regionally; this prevents us from obtaining a full picture of the effect of this gene variant. Additionally, gender difference must not be overlooked because estrogen exerts an interfering effect on COMT activity. We examined 323 young healthy Chinese Han subjects and analyzed the gray matter volume (GMV) differences between Val/Val individuals and Met carriers in a voxel-wise manner throughout the whole brain. We were interested in genotype effects and genotype × gender interactions. We then extracted these brain regions with GMV differences as seeds to compute resting-state functional connectivity (rsFC) with the rest of the brain; we al

SUBMITTER: Tian T 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3797700 | biostudies-literature | 2013

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature