Serotonin transporter protein polymorphism and harm avoidance personality in migraine without aura.
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.
Park
Jeong Wook
JW
Department of Neurology, Catholic University of Korea, Seoul, Korea.
Han
Si Ryung
SR
Yang
Dong Won
DW
Kim
Yeong In
YI
Lee
Kwang Soo
KS
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
D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins