title: Catechol-O-methyltransferase Val158Met genotype affects neural correlates of aversive stimuli processing.
abstract: It was previously shown that variation of the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene modulates brain activity during the processing of stimuli with negative valence, but not for pleasant stimuli. Here, we tested whether the COMT genotype also modulates the electrophysiological correlates of emotional processing and explored whether the environmental factor of life stress influences this effect. Using the early posterior negativity (EPN) paradigm, event-related brain potentials were measured in 81 healthy individuals during the processing of pictures that evoked emotions of positive and negative valence. As was hypothesized, the COMT genotype affected the EPN amplitudes for unpleasant stimuli, but not for pleasant ones. Specifically, Met/Met carriers respond more sensitively to unpleasant stimuli, as compared with Val/Val carriers. We did not find evidence that life stress moderates the effect of the COMT genotype on emotional stimuli processing.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and PsychotherapyUniversity of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany. herrmann_m@klinik.uni-wuerzburg.de
authors.forename: Martin J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Herrmann
authors.forename: Heidi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Würflein
authors.forename: Theresa
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Schreppel
authors.forename: Saskia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Koehler
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mühlberger
authors.forename: Andreas
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Reif
authors.forename: Turhan
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Canli
authors.forename: Marcel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Romanos
authors.forename: Christian P
authors.initials: CP
authors.lastname: Jacob
authors.forename: Klaus-Peter
authors.initials: KP
authors.lastname: Lesch
authors.forename: Andreas J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Fallgatter
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D002394:Catechol O-Methyltransferase / Q000235:genetics*; D003265:Contingent Negative Variation / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D004644:Emotions / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008606:Mental Processes / Q000502:physiology*; D012016:Reference Values; D013315:Stress, Psychological / Q000201:enzymology / Q000235:genetics*; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D002394:Catechol O-Methyltransferase