title: Serotonin transporter protein polymorphism and harm avoidance personality in migraine without aura.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate polymorphisms in the serotonin transporter protein gene and harm avoidance personality dimension in patients with migraine without aura (MWOA).
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  The serotonin transporter protein is a key modulator of serotonergic synaptic neurotransmission. Two polymorphic regions of the gene for serotonin transporter protein have been found, and are associated with variations in the functional activity of serotonin caused by differing transcriptional efficiency. The harm avoidance (HA) personality trait may also be heritable and associated with altered serotonergic neurotransmitter activity.
  
  
  METHODS
  We amplified the polymorphism in the promoter of serotonin transporter protein (5-HTTLPR) and the variable number of tandem repeats polymorphism within intron 2 (VNTR) using the polymerase chain reaction and performed genotype polymorphism analyses in 97 patients with MWOA and 100 healthy controls. We investigated serotonin-related personality traits by evaluating the HA personality dimension using a tridimensional questionnaire.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The genotype frequencies and allele distributions of 5-HTTLPR did not differ between patients with MWOA and controls. The VNTR genotype STin2.12/STin2.12 was significantly more common in patients with MWOA (90%) than in controls (77%; P= .017). Patients with MWOA also had HA scores (21.9 +/- 6.4) significantly higher than those of controls (16.3 +/- 6.1; P < .001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Serotonergic activity might be involved in the development of MWOA and VNTR of serotonin transporter gene might be one of the genetically contributing factors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jeong Wook
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Si Ryung
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Han
authors.forename: Dong Won
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Yeong In
authors.initials: YI
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.forename: Kwang Soo
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005838:Genotype; D040261:Harm Reduction / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007438:Introns / Q000235:genetics; D008875:Middle Aged; D020326:Migraine without Aura / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D010551:Personality / Q000235:genetics*; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D020080:Tandem Repeat Sequences
chemical_list: D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins