Department of Neuropsychiatry, Hallym University, Chuncheon, Korea.
Psychiatry Investig. 2011 Jun;8(2):130-3. doi: 10.4306/pi.2011.8.2.130. Epub 2010 Oct 25.
Psychiatric disorders such as depression, anxiety and alcohol dependence are associated with serotonin metabolism. We assessed the methylation level of the serotonin transporter (5-HTT) promoter region in control and alcohol dependent patients.
Twenty seven male patients who met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorder IV (DSM-IV) criteria for alcohol dependence were compared with fifteen controls. Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays of bisulfate-modified DNA were designed to amplify a part of the CpG island in the 5HTT gene. Pyrosequencing was performed and the methylation level at seven CpG island sites was measured.
We found no differences in the methylation patterns of the serotonin transporter linked promoter region (5-HTTLPR) between alcohol-dependent and control subjects.
Our negative finding may be because 5-HTT epigenetic variation may not affect the expression for 5-HTT or there may be other methylation site critical for its expression. To find out more conclusive result, repeating the study in more methylation sites with a larger number of samples in a well-controlled setting is needed.
抑郁、焦虑和酒精依赖等精神障碍与 5-羟色胺代谢有关。我们评估了对照组和酒精依赖患者中 5-羟色胺转运体（5-HTT）启动子区域的甲基化水平。
将 27 名符合精神障碍诊断与统计手册第四版（DSM-IV）酒精依赖标准的男性患者与 15 名对照组进行比较。设计了亚硫酸氢盐修饰 DNA 的聚合酶链反应（PCR）检测，以扩增 5-HTT 基因中 CpG 岛的一部分。进行了焦磷酸测序，测量了七个 CpG 岛位点的甲基化水平。
我们没有发现酒精依赖组和对照组之间 5-羟色胺转运体连接启动子区域（5-HTTLPR）的甲基化模式存在差异。
我们的阴性发现可能是因为 5-HTT 表观遗传变异可能不会影响 5-HTT 的表达，或者可能存在其他对其表达至关重要的甲基化位点。为了得出更具结论性的结果，需要在一个良好控制的环境中，在更多的甲基化位点重复这项研究，并增加样本量。
