title: Interaction Effects ofBDNFandCOMTGenes on Resting-State Brain Activity and Working Memory.
abstract: Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) genes have been found to interactively influence working memory (WM) as well as brain activation during WM tasks. However, whether the two genes have interactive effects on resting-state activities of the brain and whether these spontaneous activations correlate with WM are still unknown. This study included behavioral data from WM tasks and genetic data (COMTrs4680 andBDNFVal66Met) from 417 healthy Chinese adults and resting-state fMRI data from 298 of them. Significant interactive effects ofBDNFandCOMTwere found for WM performance as well as for resting-state regional homogeneity (ReHo) in WM-related brain areas, including the left medial frontal gyrus (lMeFG), left superior frontal gyrus (lSFG), right superior and medial frontal gyrus (rSMFG), right medial orbitofrontal gyrus (rMOFG), right middle frontal gyrus (rMFG), precuneus, bilateral superior temporal gyrus, left superior occipital gyrus, right middle occipital gyrus, and right inferior parietal lobule. Simple effects analyses showed that compared to other genotypes, subjects withCOMT-VV/BDNF-VV had higher WM and lower ReHo in all five frontal brain areas. The results supported the hypothesis thatCOMTandBDNFpolymorphisms influence WM performance and spontaneous brain activity (i.e., ReHo).
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal UniversityBeijing, China; Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal UniversityBeijing, China.
authors.forename: Wen
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal UniversityBeijing, China; Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal UniversityBeijing, China.
authors.forename: Chunhui
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal UniversityBeijing, China; Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal UniversityBeijing, China.
authors.forename: Mingrui
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California Irvine, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology and Social Behavior, University of California Irvine, CA, USA.
authors.forename: Chuansheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Psychology, Southwest University Chongqing, China.
authors.forename: Qinghua
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal UniversityBeijing, China; Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal UniversityBeijing, China.
authors.forename: Gui
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Xue
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal UniversityBeijing, China; Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal UniversityBeijing, China.
authors.forename: Wenjing
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal UniversityBeijing, China; Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal UniversityBeijing, China.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: He
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Cognitive Neuroscience and Learning and IDG/McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Beijing Normal UniversityBeijing, China; Center for Collaboration and Innovation in Brain and Learning Sciences, Beijing Normal UniversityBeijing, China.
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Dong
keywords: BDNF; COMT; interaction effect; regional homogeneity; working memory