Cholecystokinin A receptor (CCKAR) gene variation is associated with language lateralization.
Schizophrenia is a psychiatric disorder associated with atypical handedness and language lateralization. However, the molecular mechanisms underlying these functional changes are still poorly understood. Therefore, the present study was aimed at investigating whether variation in schizophrenia-related genes modulates individual lateralization patterns. To this end, we genotyped 16 single nucleotide polymorphisms that have previously been linked to schizophrenia on a meta-analysis level in a sample of 444 genetically unrelated healthy participants and examined the association of these polymorphisms with handedness, footedness and language lateralization. We found a significant association of the cholecystokinin-A receptor (CCKAR) gene variation rs1800857 and language lateralization assessed using the dichotic listening task. Individuals carrying the schizophrenia risk allele C of this polymorphism showed a marked reduction of the typical left-hemispheric dominance for language processing. Since the cholecystokinin A receptor is involved in dopamine release in the central nervous system, these findings suggest that genetic variation in this receptor may modulate language lateralization due to its impact on dopaminergic pathways.
Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience, Biopsychology, Ruhr-University Bochum, Bochum, Germany. sebastian.ocklenburg@rub.de
Sebastian
S
Ocklenburg
Larissa
L
Arning
Wanda M
WM
Gerding
Jörg T
JT
Epplen
Onur
O
Güntürkün
Christian
C
Beste
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004007:Dichotic Listening Tests; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000235:genetics*; D056726:Genetic Association Studies; D060005:Genotyping Techniques; D006801:Humans; D007802:Language; D008297:Male; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics*; D043886:Receptor, Cholecystokinin A / Q000235:genetics*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000235:genetics; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D055815:Young Adult
D043886:Receptor, Cholecystokinin A