Department of Psychiatry, Samsung Medical Center, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea.
J Affect Disord. 2010 Jun;123(1-3):337-40. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2009.10.008. Epub 2009 Nov 8.
Sympathetic nervous function abnormalities have long been suggested to be a possible etiology of panic disorder (PD). Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) affects sympathetic activities, and the COMT Val(158)Met polymorphism has been suggested to be related to PD. The authors examined the relationship between sympathetic nervous function and the COMT Val(158)Met polymorphism in PD patients.
Fifty-eight patients [Val/Val (51.7%) and Met allele carriers (48.3%)] and 58 age-matched normal control subjects [Val/Val (56.9%) and Met allele carriers (43.1%)] were compared in terms of finger skin temperature, which is known to be a useful marker of sympathetic nervous function.
A significant COMT Val(158)Met polymorphismxdiagnosis interaction was found. Specifically, the met allele was found to be associated with a lower skin temperature in PD patients.
These results suggest that the COMT Met allele is related to the higher sympathetic nervous function observed in PD.
长期以来，交感神经功能异常被认为是惊恐障碍（PD）的可能病因。儿茶酚-O-甲基转移酶（COMT）影响交感活动，COMT Val（158）Met 多态性与 PD 有关。作者研究了 PD 患者的交感神经功能与 COMT Val（158）Met 多态性之间的关系。
比较了 58 例患者[Val/Val（51.7%）和 Met 等位基因携带者（48.3%）]和 58 名年龄匹配的正常对照者[Val/Val（56.9%）和 Met 等位基因携带者（43.1%）]的手指皮肤温度，已知皮肤温度是交感神经功能的有用标志物。
发现 COMT Val（158）Met 多态性与诊断的显著相互作用。具体而言，在 PD 患者中，Met 等位基因与较低的皮肤温度相关。
这些结果表明，COMT Met 等位基因与 PD 中观察到的较高交感神经功能有关。
