Seasonality associated with the serotonin 2A receptor -1438 A/G polymorphism.
BACKGROUND
Seasonal affective disorder and seasonal rhythms in mood and behavior (seasonality) have been reported to be associated with serotonergic system. In this study we investigated the relationship between the serotonin 2A receptor (5HTR2A) -1438 A/G polymorphism and seasonal variation in a young Korean healthy population.


METHODS
297 young Korean medical students were recruited for this study. They were genotyped for the 5HTR2A -1438 A/G polymorphism and evaluated the seasonal variation in mood and behavior by the Seasonality Pattern Assessment Questionnaire (SPAQ).


RESULTS
The Global Seasonality Score of the SPAQ among three genotypes were not different. However, the comparison between seasonals and non-seasonals showed significant difference in the genotype distribution. The winter-type seasonals showed a significantly higher frequency of the 5HTR2A -1438 A allele compared with non-seasonals (chi2 = 6.80, p = 0.009; OR = 1.79; 95% CI, 1.15-2.78).


CONCLUSIONS
These results suggest that the 5HTR2A -1438 A/G polymorphism is possibly related to seasonality in the Korean population.
Lee
Heon-Jeong
HJ
Department of Psychiatry, Anam Hospital, Korea University College of Medicine, Anam-Dong, Seongbuk-Gu, Seoul 136-705, Korea.
Sung
Seung-Mo
SM
Lim
Se-Won
SW
Paik
Jong-Woo
JW
Leen Kim
D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect / Q000502:physiology*; D000483:Alleles; D001519:Behavior / Q000502:physiology*; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D007723:Korea; D008297:Male; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D044402:Receptor, Serotonin, 5-HT2A / Q000235:genetics*; D016574:Seasonal Affective Disorder / Q000235:genetics* / Q000503:physiopathology; D012621:Seasons
D044402:Receptor, Serotonin, 5-HT2A