Correlation of catechol-O-methyl transferase Vall58Met polymorphism with prepulse inhibition of the auditorystartle reflex in patients with schizophrenia / 中国心理卫生杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the association between catechol-O-methyl transferase (COMT)Vall58Met polymorphism and prepulse inhibition of the auditory startle reflex (PPI) in patients with schizophrenia.Methods:Totally 178 patients with schizophrenia and 190 healthy volunteers were recruited.The auditory startle reflex was detected by using SR-HLAB monitoring system.The indexed of the auditory startle reflex included the amplitude,habituation％ and PPI30,PPI60,PPI120 (the lead interval was set 30 ms,60 ms,120 ms).COMT Vall58Met polymorphism was genotyped by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RELP).The differences of PPI among COMT genotypes were compared.Results:Compared to the healthy volunteers,patients with schizophrenia had a significant lower the amplitude of auditory startle reflex[(563± 460) mV vs (695 ± 447) mY,P ＜ 0.05] and habituation％ [(32 ± 46) vs (48 ± 33),P ＜ 0.01] as well as the ％PPI120[(27 ± 5) vs (35 ± 3),P ＜ 0.05].The significant differences in COMT allelic and genotypic distribions were observed between patients with schizophrenia and healthy volunteers (x2 =8.16,11.74,Ps ＜ 0.05).The significant main effect of COMT genotype on habituation％ was observed (P ＜0.05) but no interaction genotype by diagnosis on the amplitude of auditory startle reflex,habituation％ and ％ PPI120 was observed (Ps ＞ 0.05).Conclusions:There may be a correlation between COMT genotype and adaptability,but not between COMT genotype and PPI deficit present in patients with schizophrenia