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Linkage of mood disorders with D2, D3 and TH genes: a multicenter study
A Serretti1, F Macciardi, C Cusin
1Istituto Scientifico Ospedale San Raffaele, Department of Neuropsychiatric Sciences, University of Milan School of Medicine, Via Luigi Prinetti 29, 20127, Milan, Italy. serretti.alessandro@hsr.it
Background:
It has been suggested that the dopaminergic system is involved in the pathophysiology of mood disorders. We conducted a multicenter study of families with mood disorders, to investigate a possible linkage with genes coding for dopamine receptor D2, dopamine receptor D3 and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH).
Methods:
Twenty three mood disorder pedigrees collected within the framework of the European Collaborative Project on Affective Disorders were analyzed with parametric and non-parametric linkage methods. Various potential phenotypes were considered, from a narrow (only bipolar as affected) to a broad (bipolar+major depressive+schizoaffective disorders) definition of affection status.
Results:
Parametric analyses excluded linkage for all the candidate genes, even though small positive LOD (Limit of Detection) scores were observed for TH in three families. Non-parametric analyses yielded negative results for all markers.
Conclusion:
The D2 and D3 dopamine receptors were, therefore, not a major liability factor for mood disorders in our sample, whereas TH may play a role in a subgroup of patients.