Children under stress-COMT genotype and stressful life events predict cortisol increase in an acute social stress paradigm

International Journal of Neuropsychopharmacology

Volumn 15, Issue 9, 2012, Pages 1229-1239

  Armbruster, Diana ^a   Mueller, Anett ^b   Strobel, Alexander ^a   Lesch, Klaus Peter ^c   Brocke, Burkhard ^a   Kirschbaum, Clemens ^a  

^a DRESDEN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY   (Germany)

^b STONY BROOK UNIVERSITY   (United States)

^c UNIVERSITY OF WÜRZBURG   (Germany)

Author keywords

Children; COMT Val158Met; cortisol stress response; HPA axis; stressful life events

Indexed keywords

CATECHOL METHYLTRANSFERASE; HYDROCORTISONE;

ALLELE; ARTICLE; CHILD; COPING BEHAVIOR; ENVIRONMENTAL FACTOR; FEMALE; GENETIC VARIABILITY; GENOTYPE; HUMAN; HYPOTHALAMUS HYPOPHYSIS ADRENAL SYSTEM; INTERVIEW; LINEAR REGRESSION ANALYSIS; MALE; NORMAL HUMAN; PRIORITY JOURNAL; SALIVA LEVEL; SCHOOL CHILD; SOCIAL STRESS;

ALLELES; BRAIN-DERIVED NEUROTROPHIC FACTOR; CATECHOL O-METHYLTRANSFERASE; CHILD; DNA; FEMALE; GENE FREQUENCY; GENETIC VARIATION; GENOTYPE; HUMANS; HYDROCORTISONE; LIFE CHANGE EVENTS; MALE; NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL TESTS; REGRESSION ANALYSIS; REPRODUCIBILITY OF RESULTS; SALIVA; SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT; STRESS, PSYCHOLOGICAL;

EID: 84871101503     PISSN: 14611457     EISSN: 14695111     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S1461145711001763     Document Type: Article

References (86)

1. Aberg E, Fandino-Losada A, Sjo?holm LK, Forsell Y, et al. (2011). The functional Val158Met polymorphism in catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) is associated with depression and motivation in men from a Swedish population-based study. Journal of Affective Disorders 129, 158-166.
2. Alexander N, Osinsky R, Mueller E, Schmitz A, et al. (2011). Genetic variants within the dopaminergic system interact to modulate endocrine stress reactivity and recovery. Behavioural Brain Research 216, 53-58.
3. Armbruster D, Mueller A, Strobel A, Lesch KP, et al. (2011). Variation in genes involved in dopamine clearance influence the startle response in older adults. Journal of Neural Transmission 118, 1281-1292.
4. Arnsten AF, Goldman-Rakic PS (1998). Noise stress impairs prefrontal cortical cognitive function in monkeys: evidence for a hyperdopaminergic mechanism. Archives of General Psychiatry 55, 362-368.
5. Axinn WG, Pearce LD, Ghimire D (1999). Innovations in life history calendar applications. Social Science Research 28, 243-264.
6. Barnett JH, Jones PB, Robbins TW, Muller U (2007). Effects of the catechol-O-methyltransferase Val158Met polymorphism on executive function: a meta-analysis of the Wisconsin Card Sort Test in schizophrenia and healthy controls. Molecular Psychiatry 12, 502-509.
7. Bilder RM, Volavka J, Lachman HM, Grace AA (2004). The catechol-O-methyltransferase polymorphism: relations to the tonic-phasic dopamine hypothesis and neuropsychiatric phenotypes. Neuropsychopharmacology 29, 1943-1961.
8. Blasi G, Mattay VS, Bertolino A, Elvevag B, et al. (2005). Effect of catechol-O-methyltransferase val158met genotype on attentional control. Journal of Neuroscience 25, 5038-5045.
9. Brennan PA, Hammen C, Sylvers P, Bor W, et al. (2011). Interactions between the COMT Val108/158Met polymorphism and maternal prenatal smoking predict aggressive behavior outcomes. Biological Psychology 87, 99-105.
10. Burke HM, Davis MC, Otte C, Mohr DC (2005a). Depression and cortisol responses to psychological stress : a meta-analysis. Psychoneuroendocrinology 30, 846-856.
11. Burke HM, Fernald LC, Gertler PJ, Adler NE (2005b). Depressive symptoms are associated with blunted cortisol stress responses in very low-income women. Psychosomatic Medicine 67, 211-216.
12. Buske-Kirschbaum A, Jobst S, Wustmans A, Kirschbaum C, et al. (1997). Attenuated free cortisol response to psychosocial stress in children with atopic dermatitis. Psychosomatic Medicine 59, 419-426.
13. Caspi A, Moffitt TE, Cannon M, McClay J, et al. (2005). Moderation of the effect of adolescent-onset cannabis use on adult psychosis by a functional polymorphism in the catechol-O-methyltransferase gene: longitudinal evidence of a generenvironment interaction. Biological Psychiatry 57, 1117-1127.
14. Caspi A, Moffitt TE, Thornton A, Freedman D, et al. (1996). The life history calendar : a research and clinical assessment method for collecting retrospective event-history data. International Journal of Methods in Psychiatric Research 6, 101-114.
15. Chen J, Lipska BK, Halim N, Ma QD, et al. (2004). Functional analysis of genetic variation in catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT): effects on mRNA, protein, and enzyme activity in postmortem human brain. American Journal of Human Genetics 75, 807-821.
16. Colzato LS, van der Does AJ, Kouwenhoven C, Elzinga BM, et al. (2011). BDNF Val(66)Met polymorphism is associated with higher anticipatory cortisol stress response, anxiety, and alcohol consumption in healthy adults. Psychoneuroendocrinology 36, 1562-1569.
17. Dedovic K, d'Aguiar C, Pruessner JC (2009a). What stress does to your brain : a review of neuroimaging studies. Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 54, 6-15.
18. Dedovic K, Duchesne A, Andrews J, Engert V, et al. (2009b). The brain and the stress axis : the neural correlates of cortisol regulation in response to stress. Neuroimage 47, 864-871.
19. di Giovanni G, Esposito E, di Matteo V (2010). Role of serotonin in central dopamine dysfunction. CNS Neuroscience and Therapeutics 16, 179-194.
20. Drabant EM, Hariri AR, Meyer-Lindenberg A, Munoz KE, et al. (2006). Catechol O-methyltransferase val158met genotype and neural mechanisms related to affective arousal and regulation. Archives of General Psychiatry 63, 1396-1406.
21. Dumontheil I, Roggeman C, Ziermans T, Peyrard-Janvid M, et al. (2011). Influence of the COMT genotype on working memory and brain activity changes during development. Biological Psychiatry 70, 222-229.
22. Egan MF, Goldberg TE, Kolachana BS, Callicott JH, et al. (2001). Effect of COMT Val108/158 Met genotype on frontal lobe function and risk for schizophrenia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 98, 6917-6922.
23. Elzinga BM, Molendijk ML, Oude Voshaar RC, Bus BA, et al. (2011). The impact of childhood abuse and recent stress on serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor and the moderating role of BDNF Val66Met. Psychopharmacology (Berlin) 214, 319-328.
24. Enoch MA, Xu K, Ferro E, Harris CR, et al. (2003). Genetic origins of anxiety in women: a role for a functional catechol-O-methyltransferase polymorphism. Psychiatric Genetics 13, 33-41.
25. Feldman S, Weidenfeld J (2004). Involvement of endogeneous glutamate in the stimulatory effect of norepinephrine and serotonin on the hypothalamo-pituitary-adrenocortical axis. Neuroendocrinology 79, 43-53.
26. Freedman D, Thornton A, Camburn D, Alwin D, et al. (1988). The life history calendar: a technique for collecting retrospective data. Sociological Methodology 18, 37-68.
27. Fumagalli F, Molteni R, Racagni G, Riva MA (2007). Stress during development : impact on neuroplasticity and relevance to psychopathology. Progress in Neurobiology 81, 197-217.
28. Goldberg TE, Egan MF, Gscheidle T, Coppola R, et al. (2003). Executive subprocesses in working memory: relationship to catechol-O-methyltransferase Val158Met genotype and schizophrenia. Archives of General Psychiatry 60, 889-896.
29. Goldman D, Oroszi G, Ducci F (2005). The genetics of addictions : uncovering the genes. Nature Reviews Genetics 6, 521-532.
30. Heisler LK, Pronchuk N, Nonogaki K, Zhou L, et al. (2007). Serotonin activates the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis via serotonin 2C receptor stimulation. Journal of Neuroscience 27, 6956-6964.
31. Horger BA, Iyasere CA, Berhow MT, Messer CJ, et al. (1999). Enhancement of locomotor activity and conditioned reward to cocaine by brain-derived neurotrophic factor. Journal of Neuroscience 19, 4110-4122.
32. Hunnerkopf R, Strobel A, Gutknecht L, Brocke B, et al. 2007 Interaction between BDNF Val66Met and dopamine transporter gene variation influences anxiety-related traits. Neuropsychopharmacology 32, 2552-2560.
33. Hyman C, Hofer M, Barde YA, Juhasz M, et al. (1991). BDNF is a neurotrophic factor for dopaminergic neurons of the substantia nigra. Nature 350, 230-232.
34. Jabbi M, Kema IP, van der Pompe G, te Meerman GJ, et al. (2007). Catechol-o-methyltransferase polymorphism and susceptibility to major depressive disorder modulates psychological stress response. Psychiatric Genetics 17, 183-193.
35. Jankord R, Herman JP (2008). Limbic regulation of hypothalamo-pituitary- adrenocortical function during acute and chronic stress. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1148, 64-73.
36. Joober R, Gauthier J, Lal S, Bloom D, et al. (2002). Catechol-O- methyltransferase Val-108/158-Met gene variants associated with performance on the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test. Archives of General Psychiatry 59, 662-663.
37. Karoum F, Chrapusta SJ, Egan MF (1994). 3-Methoxytyramine is the major metabolite of released dopamine in the rat frontal cortex : reassessment of the effects of antipsychotics on the dynamics of dopamine release and metabolism in the frontal cortex, nucleus accumbens, and striatum by a simple two pool model. Journal of Neurochemistry 63, 972-979.
38. Kaufman J, Plotsky PM, Nemeroff CB, Charney DS (2000). Effects of early adverse experiences on brain structure and function : clinical implications. Biological Psychiatry 48, 778-790.
39. Kino T, Chrousos GP (2005). Glucocorticoid effects on gene expression. In : Steckler T, Kalin NH, Reul JMHM (Eds.), Handbook of Stress and the Brain (pp. 295-311). Amsterdam, London: Elsevier.
40. Kirschbaum C, Pirke KM, Hellhammer DH (1993). The 'Trier Social Stress Test'-a tool for investigating psychobiological stress responses in a laboratory setting. Neuropsychobiology 28, 76-81.
41. Kirschbaum C, Wu? st S, Faig HG, Hellhammer DH (1992). Heritability of cortisol responses to human corticotropin-releasing hormone, ergometry, and psychological stress in humans. Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism 75, 1526-1530.
42. Kolassa IT, Kolassa S, Ertl V, Papassotiropoulos A, et al. (2010). The risk of posttraumatic stress disorder after trauma depends on traumatic load and the catechol-O-methyltransferase Val(158)Met polymorphism. Biological Psychiatry 67, 304-308.
43. Kring SI, Werge T, Holst C, Toubro S, et al. (2009). Polymorphisms of serotonin receptor 2A and 2C genes and COMT in relation to obesity and type 2 diabetes. PLoS ONE 4, e6696.
44. Lang UE, Bajbouj M, Sander T, Gallinat J (2007). Gender-dependent association of the functional catechol-O-methyltransferase Val158Met genotype with sensation seeking personality trait. Neuropsychopharmacology 32, 1950-1955.
45. Laucht M, Blomeyer D, Buchmann AF, Treutlein J, et al. (2011). Catechol-O-methyltransferase Val(158) Met genotype, parenting practices and adolescent alcohol use : testing the differential susceptibility hypothesis. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, and Allied Disciplines, doi:10.1111/j.1469-7610.2011.02408.x, published online 19 April 2011.
46. Linkowski P, Van Onderbergen A, Kerkhofs M, Bosson D, et al. (1993). Twin study of the 24-h cortisol profile: evidence for genetic control of the human circadian clock. American Journal of Physiology 264, E173-E181.
47. Lyons DM, Parker KJ (2007). Stress inoculation-induced indications of resilience in monkeys. Journal of Traumatic Stress 20, 423-433.
48. McClearn GE (2006). Contextual genetics. Trends in Genetics 22, 314-319.
49. Macr̀ S, Wurbel H (2006). Developmental plasticity of HPA and fear responses in rats : a critical review of the maternal mediation hypothesis. Hormones and Behavior 50, 667-680
50. Malhotra AK, Kestler LJ, Mazzanti C, Bates JA, et al. (2002). A functional polymorphism in the COMT gene and performance on a test of prefrontal cognition. American Journal of Psychiatry 159, 652-654.
51. Matsumoto M, Weickert CS, Akil M, Lipska BK, et al. (2003). Catechol O-methyltransferase mRNA expression in human and rat brain : evidence for a role in cortical neuronal function. Neuroscience 116, 127-137.
52. Mier D, Kirsch P, Meyer-Lindenberg A (2010). Neural substrates of pleiotropic action of genetic variation in COMT: a meta-analysis. Molecular Psychiatry 15, 918-927.
53. Montag C, Buckholtz JW, Hartmann P, Merz M, et al. (2008). COMT genetic variation affects fear processing: psychophysiological evidence. Behavioural Neuroscience 122, 901-909.
54. Murakami S, Imbe H, Morikawa Y, Kubo C, et al. (2005). Chronic stress, as well as acute stress, reduces BDNF mRNA expression in the rat hippocampus but less robustly. Neuroscience Research 53, 129-139.
55. Murphy BL, Arnsten AF, Goldman-Rakic PS, Roth RH (1996). Increased dopamine turnover in the prefrontal cortex impairs spatial working memory performance in rats and monkeys. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA 93, 1325-1329.
56. Narita M, Aoki K, Takagi M, Yajima Y, et al. (2003). Implication of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in the release of dopamine and dopamine-related behaviors induced by methamphetamine. Neuroscience 119, 767-775.
57. Olsson CA, Anney RJ, Lotfi-Miri M, Byrnes GB, et al. (2005). Association between the COMT Val158Met polymorphism and propensity to anxiety in an Australian population-based longitudinal study of adolescent health. Psychiatric Genetics 15, 109-115.
58. Oswald LM, McCaul M, Choi L, Yang X, et al. (2004). Catechol-O- methyltransferase polymorphism alters hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis responses to naloxone: a preliminary report. Biological Psychiatry 55, 102-105.
59. Paykel ES (2003). Life events and affective disorders. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica (Supplementum) 108, 61-66.
60. Perroud N, Jaussent I, Guillaume S, Bellivier F, et al. (2010). COMT but not serotonin-related genes modulates the influence of childhood abuse on anger traits. Genes, Brain and Behavior 9, 193-202.
61. Petrowski K, Herold U, Joraschky P, Wittchen HU, et al. (2010). A striking pattern of cortisol non-responsiveness to psychosocial stress in patients with panic disorder with concurrent normal cortisol awakening responses. Psychoneuroendocrinology 35, 414-421.
62. Rasch B, Spalek K, Buholzer S, Luechinger R, et al. (2010). Aversive stimuli lead to differential amygdala activation and connectivity patterns depending on catechol-O-methyltransferase Val158Met genotype. Neuroimage 52, 1712-1719.
63. Reuter M, Hennig J (2005). Association of the functional catechol-O-methyltransferase VALI58MET polymorphism with the personality trait of extraversion. Neuroreport 16, 1135-1138.
64. Roceri M, Hendriks W, Racagni G, Ellenbroek BA, et al. (2002). Early maternal deprivation reduces the expression of BDNF and NMDA receptor subunits in rat hippocampus. Molecular Psychiatry 7, 609-616.
65. Schule C, Zill P, Baghai TC, Eser D, et al. (2006). Brain-derived neurotrophic factor Val66Met polymorphism and dexamethasone/CRH test results in depressed patients. Psychoneuroendocrinology 31, 1019-1025.
66. Shalev I, Lerer E, Israel S, Uzefovsky F, et al. (2009). BDNF Val66Met polymorphism is associated with HPA axis reactivity to psychological stress characterized by genotype and gender interactions. Psychoneuroendocrinology 34, 382-388.
67. Smolka MN, Schumann G, Wrase J, Grusser SM, et al. (2005). Catechol-O-methyltransferase val158met genotype affects processing of emotional stimuli in the amygdala and prefrontal cortex. Journal of Neuroscience 25, 836-842.
68. Song L, Che W, Min-Wei W, Murakami Y, et al. (2006). Impairment of the spatial learning and memory induced by learned helplessness and chronic mild stress. Pharmacology, Biochemistry and Behavior 83, 186-193.
69. Spina MB, Squinto SP, Miller J, Lindsay RM, et al. (1992). Brain-derived neurotrophic factor protects dopamine neurons against 6-hydroxydopamine and N-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium ion toxicity : involvement of the glutathione system. Journal of Neurochemistry 59, 99-106.
70. Stein DJ, Newman TK, Savitz J, Ramesar R (2006). Warriors vs. worriers : the role of COMT gene variants. CNS Spectrums 11, 745-748.
71. Stein MB, Fallin MD, Schork NJ, Gelernter J (2005). COMT polymorphisms and anxiety-related personality traits. Neuropsychopharmacology 30, 2092-2102.
72. Sullivan RM, Dufresne MM (2006). Mesocortical dopamine and HPA axis regulation : role of laterality and early environment. Brain Research 1076, 49-59.
73. Tarullo AR, Gunnar MR (2006). Child maltreatment and the developing HPA axis. Hormones and Behavior 50, 632-639.
74. Tedeschi RG, Calhoun LG (2004). Posttraumatic growth: conceptual foundations and empirical evidence. Psychological Inquiry 15, 1-18.
75. Tenhunen J, Salminen M, Jalanko A, Ukkonen S, et al. (1993). Structure of the rat catechol-O-methyltransferase gene: separate promoters are used to produce mRNAs for soluble and membrane-bound forms of the enzyme. DNA and Cell Biology 12, 253-263.
76. Tunbridge EM, Bannerman DM, Sharp T, Harrison PJ (2004). Catechol-o-methyltransferase inhibition improves set-shifting performance and elevates stimulated dopamine release in the rat prefrontal cortex. Journal of Neuroscience 24, 5331-5335.
77. Vinberg M, Trajkovska V, Bennike B, Knorr U, et al. (2009). The BDNF Val66Met polymorphism: relation to familiar risk of affective disorder, BDNF levels and salivary cortisol. Psychoneuroendocrinology 34, 1380-1389.
78. Walder DJ, Trotman HD, Cubells JF, Brasfield J, et al. (2010). Catechol-O-methyltransferase modulation of cortisol secretion in psychiatrically at-risk and healthy adolescents. Psychiatric Genetics 20, 166-170.
79. Weaver IC (2007). Epigenetic programming by maternal behavior and pharmacological intervention. Nature vs. nurture: let's call the whole thing off. Epigenetics 2, 22-28.
80. Weinshilboum RM, Otterness DM, Szumlanski CL (1999). Methylation pharmacogenetics : catechol O-methyltransferase, thiopurine methyltransferase, and histamine N-methyltransferase. Annual Review of Pharmacology and Toxicology 39, 19-52.
81. West SG, Aiken LS, Krull JL (1996). Experimental personality designs: analyzing categorical by continuous variable interactions. Journal of Personality 64, 1-48.
82. Williams LM, Gatt JM, Grieve SM, Dobson-Stone C, et al. (2010). COMT Val(108/158)Met polymorphism effects on emotional brain function and negativity bias. Neuroimage 53, 918-925.
83. Winterer G, Musso F, Vucurevic G, Stoeter P, et al. (2006). COMT genotype predicts BOLD signal and noise characteristics in prefrontal circuits. Neuroimage 32, 1722-1732.
84. Woo JM, Yoon KS, Choi YH, Oh KS, et al. (2004). The association between panic disorder and the L/L genotype of catechol-O-methyltransferase. Journal of Psychiatric Research 38, 365-370.
85. Wray NR, James MR, Dumenil T, Handoko HY, et al. (2008). Association study of candidate variants of COMT with neuroticism, anxiety and depression. American Journal of Medical Genetics Part B: Neuropsychiatric Genetics 147B, 1314-1318.
86. Zubieta JK, Heitzeg MM, Smith YR, Bueller JA, et al. (2003). COMT val158met genotype affects mu-opioid neurotransmitter responses to a pain stressor. Science 299, 1240-1243.