COMT Val158Met Polymorphism and Executive Functions in Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder

• Published in: The journal of neuropsychiatry and clinical neurosciences Vol. 25; no. 3; pp. 214 - 221
• Main Authors: Tükel, Raşit, Gürvit, Hakan, Öztürk, Nalan, Özata, Berna, Ertekin, Banu Aslantaş, Ertekin, Erhan, Baran, Bengi, Kalem, Şükriye Akça, Büyükgök, Deniz, Direskeneli, Güher Saruhan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Arlington, VA American Psychiatric Association 01.07.2013; American Psychiatric Publishing; American Psychiatric Publishing, Inc
• Subjects: Adult; Adult and adolescent clinical studies; Analysis of Variance; Anxiety disorders. Neuroses; Biological and medical sciences; Catechol O-Methyltransferase - genetics; Cognition Disorders - etiology; Executive Function - physiology; Female; Gene Frequency; Genotype; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Methionine - genetics; Neuropsychological Tests; Obsessive compulsive disorder; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - complications; Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder - genetics; Obsessive-compulsive disorders; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide - genetics; Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychopathology. Psychiatry; Valine - genetics; Young Adult; Obsessive compulsive disorder; Executive function; Methyltransferases; Enzyme; Transferases; Anxiety disorder; Genetics; Cognition; Catechol O-methyltransferase; Genetic determinism; Polymorphism
• ISSN: 0895-0172; 1545-7222; 1545-7222
• DOI: 10.1176/appi.neuropsych.12040103

This study investigated the association between the catechol-O-methyl transferase (COMT) Val158Met polymorphism and executive functions in 101 patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and 100 healthy-control subjects (HS). Results showed that there was no significant difference for the genotype distributions between the OCD and HS groups. OCD-Met carrier subgroup's TMT B-A difference and lexical fluency scores were found to be significantly poorer than both HS subgroups. These findings suggest that lower activity of COMT associated with the Met allele, leading to higher levels of dopamine in the prefrontal cortex, lead to poorer executive function in OCD.