title: Visual hallucinations in Parkinson's disease are not influenced by polymorphisms of serotonin 5-HT2A receptor and transporter genes.
abstract: Psychiatric disorders are common in Parkinson's disease (PD) and hallucinations are observed in nearly 40% of PD patients. The involvement of dopaminergic system in the pathogenesis of psychosis has been sustained by most of the authors even if several evidences indicate that multiple neurochemical substrates might underlie psychosis in PD. In PD there is an extensive loss of serotoninergic raphe neurons and serotonin dysfunction had been implicated in the pathogenesis of many psychiatric disorders such as depression, schizophrenia, and in psychosis of patients with Alzheimer disease. The association of a serotonin transporter gene-linked polymorphic region (5-HTTLPR) and the 5-HT2A receptor T102C polymorphism with psychosis in a group of patients with PD was investigated. No significant differences in the distribution of allele and genotype frequencies of the 5-HTTLPR (p>0.01) and 5-HT2A T102C (p>0.05) were found between patients and controls as well as between the patients' subgroups without and with psychosis. These data might suggest that 5-HTTLPR and 5-HT2A polymorphisms are not major susceptibility factors of psychotic symptoms in PD patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, University of Pisa, via Roma 67, 56127 Pisa, Italy.
authors.forename: Lorenzo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Kiferle
authors.forename: Roberto
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ceravolo
authors.forename: Lucia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Petrozzi
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rossi
authors.forename: Daniela
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Frosini
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rocchi
authors.forename: Gabriele
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Siciliano
authors.forename: Ubaldo
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Bonuccelli
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Murri
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006212:Hallucinations / Q000209:etiology / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010300:Parkinson Disease / Q000150:complications / Q000235:genetics*; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D044348:Receptors, Serotonin, 5-HT2 / Q000235:genetics*; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D044348:Receptors, Serotonin, 5-HT2; D050486:Serotonin Plasma Membrane Transport Proteins