The BDNF-Val66Met polymorphism modulates parental rearing effects on adult psychiatric symptoms: a community twin-based study.
OBJECTIVE
To test whether firstly, different parental rearing components were associated with different dimensions of psychiatric symptoms in adulthood, secondly BDNF-Val66Met polymorphism moderated this association and thirdly, this association was due to genetic confounding.


METHODS
Perceived parental rearing according to Parental Bonding Instrument (PBI), psychiatric symptoms evaluated with the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) and the BDNF-Val66Met polymorphism were analyzed in a sample of 232 adult twins from the general population.


RESULTS
In the whole sample, paternal care was negatively associated with depression. Maternal overprotection was positively associated with paranoid ideation, obsession-compulsion and somatization. Gene-environment interaction effects were detected between the BDNF-Val66Met polymorphism and maternal care on phobic anxiety, paternal care on hostility, maternal overprotection on somatization and paternal overprotection also in somatization. In the subsample of MZ twins, intrapair differences in maternal care were associated with anxiety, paranoid ideation and somatization.


CONCLUSIONS
Met carriers were, in general, more sensitive to the effects of parental rearing compared to Val/Val carriers in relation to anxiety and somatization. Contra-intuitively, our findings suggest that high rates of maternal care might be of risk for Met carriers regarding anxiety. Results from analyses controlling for genetic confounding were in line with this finding.
Anthropology Unit, Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona and Biomedicine Institute of the University of Barcelona (IBUB), Avenue Diagonal, 643, 08028 Barcelona, Spain.
P
P
Ibarra
Anthropology Unit, Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona and Biomedicine Institute of the University of Barcelona (IBUB), Avenue Diagonal, 643, 08028 Barcelona, Spain; Centre for Biomedical Research Network on Mental Health (CIBERSAM), Doctor Esquerdo, 46, 28007 Madrid, Spain.
S
S
Alemany
Anthropology Unit, Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona and Biomedicine Institute of the University of Barcelona (IBUB), Avenue Diagonal, 643, 08028 Barcelona, Spain; Centre for Biomedical Research Network on Mental Health (CIBERSAM), Doctor Esquerdo, 46, 28007 Madrid, Spain.
M
M
Fatjó-Vilas
Anthropology Unit, Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona and Biomedicine Institute of the University of Barcelona (IBUB), Avenue Diagonal, 643, 08028 Barcelona, Spain; Centre for Biomedical Research Network on Mental Health (CIBERSAM), Doctor Esquerdo, 46, 28007 Madrid, Spain.
A
A
Córdova-Palomera
Anthropology Unit, Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona and Biomedicine Institute of the University of Barcelona (IBUB), Avenue Diagonal, 643, 08028 Barcelona, Spain; Centre for Biomedical Research Network on Mental Health (CIBERSAM), Doctor Esquerdo, 46, 28007 Madrid, Spain.
X
X
Goldberg
Anthropology Unit, Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona and Biomedicine Institute of the University of Barcelona (IBUB), Avenue Diagonal, 643, 08028 Barcelona, Spain; Centre for Biomedical Research Network on Mental Health (CIBERSAM), Doctor Esquerdo, 46, 28007 Madrid, Spain.
B
B
Arias
Centre for Biomedical Research Network on Mental Health (CIBERSAM), Doctor Esquerdo, 46, 28007 Madrid, Spain; Department of Psychiatry, Alava University Hospital (Santiago), EHU/UPV, Kronikgune, Olaguibel 29, Vitoria, Spain.
I
I
González-Ortega
Centre for Biomedical Research Network on Mental Health (CIBERSAM), Doctor Esquerdo, 46, 28007 Madrid, Spain; Department of Psychiatry, Alava University Hospital (Santiago), EHU/UPV, Kronikgune, Olaguibel 29, Vitoria, Spain.
A
A
González-Pinto
Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, Jena University Hospital, 07743 Jena, Germany.
I
I
Nenadic
Anthropology Unit, Department of Animal Biology, Faculty of Biology, University of Barcelona and Biomedicine Institute of the University of Barcelona (IBUB), Avenue Diagonal, 643, 08028 Barcelona, Spain; Centre for Biomedical Research Network on Mental Health (CIBERSAM), Doctor Esquerdo, 46, 28007 Madrid, Spain. Electronic address: lfananas@ub.edu.
L
L
Fañanás
D000328:Adult; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000235:genetics*; D002648:Child; D002668:Child Rearing / Q000523:psychology*; D004200:Diseases in Twins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D059647:Gene-Environment Interaction; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology; D009769:Object Attachment; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology; D010290:Parents; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D014427:Twins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000523:psychology
D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor
BDNF-Val66Met polymorphism; Gene-environment interaction; General population; Parental rearing; Psychiatric symptoms; Twins