title: A Ser9Gly polymorphism in the dopamine D3 receptor gene (DRD3) and event-related P300 potentials.
abstract: An important reason for the interest in P300 event-related potentials are findings in patients with psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia or alcoholism in which attenuations of the P300 amplitude are common findings. The P300 wave has been suggested to be a promising endophenotype for genetic research since attenuations of the amplitude and latency can be observed not only in patients but also in relatives. In parallel, the search for genes involved in the pathogenesis of psychiatric disorders has revealed for both, schizophrenia and alcoholism an association with a DRD3 Ser9Gly polymorphism in a number of studies. In the present study, we have investigated 124 unrelated healthy subjects of German descent and have found diminished parietal and increased frontal P300 amplitudes in Gly9 homozygotes in comparison to Ser9 carriers. This finding suggests a possible role of the DRD3 receptor gene in the interindividual variation of P300 amplitudes. Further studies should address the direct role of the DRD3 Ser9Gly polymorphism in attenuated P300 amplitudes in psychiatric disorders like schizophrenia or alcoholism.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Munich, LMU, Munich, Germany. cmulert@psy.med.uni-muenchen.de
authors.forename: Christoph
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mulert
authors.forename: Georg
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Juckel
authors.forename: Ina
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Giegling
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Pogarell
authors.forename: Gregor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Leicht
authors.forename: Susanne
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Karch
authors.forename: Paraskevi
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mavrogiorgou
authors.forename: Hans-Jürgen
authors.initials: HJ
authors.lastname: Möller
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Hegerl
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rujescu
mesh_terms: D000161:Acoustic Stimulation / Q000379:methods; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001921:Brain / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000502:physiology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D018913:Event-Related Potentials, P300 / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005998:Glycine / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D050637:Receptors, Dopamine D3 / Q000235:genetics*; D012694:Serine / Q000235:genetics*; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric
chemical_list: D050637:Receptors, Dopamine D3; D012694:Serine; D005998:Glycine