COMT Val158Met Polymorphism Influences the Cerebral Blood Flow Changes Related to Psychomotor Retardation in Major Depressive Disorder

Abstract

Yingying Yin,1,2 Chunming Xie,3 Haisan Zhang,4 Hongxing Zhang,5 Zhijun Zhang,3 Yonggui Yuan1,2 1Department of Psychosomatics and Psychiatry, ZhongDa Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing, 210009, People’s Republic of China; 2Institute of Psychosomatics, Medical School of Southeast University, Nanjing, 210009, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Neurology, ZhongDa Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, 210009, People’s Republic of China; 4Departments of Clinical Magnetic Resonance Imaging, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, Henan, 453002, People’s Republic of China; 5Departments of Psychiatry, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, Henan, 453002, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Yonggui Yuan; Yingying Yin, Department of Psychosomatics and Psychiatry, ZhongDa Hospital, School of Medicine, Southeast University, No. 87 Dingjiaqiao Road, Nanjing, 210009, People’s Republic of China, Email [email protected]; [email protected]: Previous studies revealed different cerebral blood flow (CBF) changes of major depressive disorder (MDD) patients with psychomotor retardation (PMR). These different changes might result from the modulation of other factors, such as genes. This study aimed to investigate the influence of COMT Val158Met polymorphism on the CBF alterations in MDD patients with PMR.Methods: COMT Val158Met genotypes and arterial spin labeling-magnetic resonance imaging (ASL-MRI) data of 103 Chinese Han participants (63 MDD, 40 NCs) were collected in this study. MDD patients were divided into PMR group (N = 23) and NPMR group (N = 40) according to the Salpetriere Retardation Rating Scale score. PMR, NPMR and NCs groups were further divided into two subgroups, respectively, based on the COMT Val158Met genotype. CBF throughout the whole brain was calculated based on the ASL-MRI data. A two-way factorial analysis of covariance was used to investigate the main effects of PMR, COMT Met allele, as well as the interactions between COMT genotype and PMR on the CBF in a voxel-wise manner. Partial correlation analyses were also applied to evaluate the association between the CBF of significant brain regions and the PMR severity.Results: Main effect of PMR mainly influenced the CBF of the prefrontal cortex (PFC). Main effect of COMT Met allele mainly influenced the CBF of the thalamus. The interaction between PMR and COMT Met allele primarily influenced the CBF of left precuneus and right caudate. The CBF of PFC was positively correlated with the PMR severity.Conclusion: Our findings indicate that the COMT Met allele could modulate the CBF changes of the left precuneus and right caudate in MDD patients with PMR, providing additional layer of information regarding earlier reports for different CBF changes of MDD patients with psychomotor retardation in the literature, which were assessed irrespective of polymorphisms among patients.Keywords: major depressive disorder, psychomotor retardation, ASL, cerebral blood flow, COMT Val158Met polymorphism

Keywords

• major depressive disorder
• psychomotor retardation
• asl
• cerebral blood flow
• comt val158met polymorphism