Neurobiology Research Unit, Copenhagen University Hospital Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark.
Biol Psychiatry. 2010 Jun 1;67(11):1033-9. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2009.11.027. Epub 2010 Jan 27.
A polymorphism in the promoter region of the serotonin transporter gene (5-HTTLPR) has been associated with seasonality both in patients with seasonal affective disorder and in the general population.
We used in vivo molecular imaging to measure cerebral serotonin transporter (5-HTT) binding in 57 healthy Scandinavians and related the outcome to season of the year and to the 5-HTTLPR carrier status.
We found that the number of daylight minutes at the time of scanning correlated negatively with 5-HTT binding in the putamen and the caudate, with a similar tendency in the thalamus, whereas this association was not observed for the midbrain. Furthermore, in the putamen, an anatomic region with relatively dense serotonin innervation, we found a significant gene x daylight effect, such that there was a negative correlation between 5-HTT binding and daylight minutes in carriers of the short 5-HTTLPR allele but not in homozygote carriers of the long allele.
Our findings are in line with S-carriers having an increased response in neural circuits involved in emotional processing to stressful environmental stimuli but here demonstrated as a endophenotype with dynamic changes in serotonin reuptake.
5-羟色胺转运体基因（5-HTTLPR）启动子区域的多态性与季节性情感障碍患者和普通人群的季节性有关。
我们使用体内分子成像技术测量了 57 名健康斯堪的纳维亚人的大脑 5-羟色胺转运体（5-HTT）结合情况，并将结果与一年中的季节和 5-HTTLPR 携带状态相关联。
我们发现，扫描时的日光分钟数与壳核和尾状核的 5-HTT 结合呈负相关，在丘脑也有类似的趋势，而中脑则没有观察到这种关联。此外，在壳核，一个具有相对密集的 5-羟色胺神经支配的解剖区域，我们发现了一个显著的基因 x 日光效应，即短 5-HTTLPR 等位基因携带者的 5-HTT 结合与日光分钟数呈负相关，但长等位基因纯合子携带者则没有。
我们的发现与 S 携带者在参与情绪处理的神经回路中对压力环境刺激的反应增加一致，但这里表现为 5-羟色胺再摄取的动态变化的内表型。
