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Schizophrenia Bulletin Advance Access published online on July 17, 2008
Schizophrenia Bulletin, doi:10.1093/schbul/sbn088
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Maryland Psychiatric Research Center. All rights reserved. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org.

Sensorimotor Gating of Schizophrenia Patients Depends on Catechol O-Methyltransferase Val158Met Polymorphism

Boris B. Quednow1,3, Michael Wagner2, Rainald Mössner2, Wolfgang Maier2 and Kai-Uwe Kühn2
2 Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany
3 Experimental Psychopathology and Brain Imaging, University Hospital of Psychiatry, University of Zurich, Switzerland

1 To whom correspondence should be addressed; Clinical Research, Experimental Psychopathology and Brain Imaging, University Hospital of Psychiatry, University of Zurich, Lenggstrasse 31, CH-8032 Zurich, Switzerland; tel: 0041-44-384-2777, fax: 0041-44-384-3396, e-mail: quednow{at}bli.uzh.ch.

It has been recently shown that Catechol O-methyltransferase (COMT) Val158Met polymorphism strongly influences prepulse inhibition (PPI) of the acoustic startle response (ASR) in healthy human volunteers. Given that schizophrenia patients exhibit impairment in PPI and that COMT is a putative susceptibility gene for schizophrenia, we investigated the impact of the COMT Val158Met polymorphisms on PPI in schizophrenic inpatients. We analyzed COMT Val158Met polymorphisms and assessed startle reactivity, habituation, and PPI of ASR in 68 Caucasian schizophrenia inpatients. Clinical symptoms were measured with the Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS). Patients carrying the Val158Met Met/Met allele showed elevated PPI levels whereas startle reactivity and habituation did not differ from the other two genotypes. These preliminary results imply that PPI is influenced by COMT Val158Met genotype in schizophrenia as well. In concert with other findings, our data suggest that PPI is a polygenic trait.

Keywords: prepulse inhibition / acoustic startle response / sensorimotor gating / catechol O-methyltransferase / Val158Met / COMT / schizophrenia / polymorphism


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