Association analysis for MAOA gene polymorphism with long-latency auditory evoked potentials in healthy females

The components of auditory evoked potentials (AEPs) have been demonstrated to be heritable and to be influenced by different neurotransmitter activities such as serotonin or dopamine. Monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) is a mitochondrial enzyme involved in the degradation of dopamine, serotonin and norepinephrine. We examined the potential association of the functional 30-bp repeat MAOA gene-linked polymorphism region (MAOA-LPR) in 234 normal young Chinese females. The results demonstrated that there is no association for MAOA-LPR polymorphism and AEP components. Our negative findings suggested that this genetic polymorphism does not play a major role in the modulation of AEPs in normal young females, but we could not exclude that other polymorphisms of the MAOA gene affect AEP components. Further exploration of the other polymorphisms of the MAOA gene and multiple interactions of the polymorphisms in various neurotransmitter systems may be needed in future studies.