Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Soeiro-de-Souza, Márcio Gerhardt
• Bio, Danielle Soares
• David, Denise Petresco
• Rodrigues dos Santos, Domingos
• Kerr, Daniel Shikanai
• Gattaz, Wagner Farid
• Machado-Vieira, Rodrigo
• Moreno, Ricardo Albeto

Titel

COMT Met (158) modulates facial emotion recognition in bipolar I disorder mood episodes

Ist Teil von

• Journal of affective disorders, 2012-02, Vol.136 (3), p.370-376

Ort / Verlag

Oxford: Elsevier B.V

Erscheinungsjahr

2012

Quelle

MEDLINE

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Abstract Background One of the many cognitive deficits reported in bipolar disorder (BD) patients is facial emotion recognition (FER), which has recently been associated with dopaminergic catabolism. Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) is one of the main enzymes involved in the metabolic degradation of dopamine (DA) in the prefrontal cortex (PFC). The COMT gene polymorphism rs4680 (Val158 Met) Met allele is associated with decreased activity of this enzyme in healthy controls. The objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of Val158 Met on FER during manic and depressive episodes in BD patients and in healthy controls. Materials and methods 64 BD type I patients (39 in manic and 25 in depressive episodes) and 75 healthy controls were genotyped for COMT rs4680 and assessed for FER using the Ekman 60 Faces (EK60) and Emotion Hexagon (Hx) tests. Results Bipolar manic patients carrying the Met allele recognized fewer surprised faces, while depressed patients with the Met allele recognized fewer “angry” and “happy” faces. Healthy homozygous subjects with the Met allele had higher FER scores on the Hx total score, as well as on “disgust” and “angry” faces than other genotypes. Conclusion This is the first study suggesting that COMT rs4680 modulates FER differently during BD episodes and in healthy controls. This provides evidence that PFC DA is part of the neurobiological mechanisms of social cognition. Further studies on other COMT polymorphisms that include euthymic BD patients are warranted. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00969.