Homozygosity at the dopamine D3 receptor gene in schizophrenic patients.

Dopamine receptors have long been implicated in the etiology of schizophrenia. It has been reported an association of schizophrenia with homozygosity at the dopamine D3 receptor gene locus. We have investigated the distribution of a D3 receptor gene polymorphism (BalI) in 107 schizophrenic Spanish patients and 100 healthy matched controls. No statistically significant differences between the patients and control group were detected with respect to either allele frequencies or genotype distribution. However, if not corrected for multiple testing, a correlation was found between homozygosity and early age of onset of schizophrenia (chi 2 = 3.1, df = 1, P = 0.03) and between A1 allele frequency and disorganized and undifferentiated schizophrenia (chi 2 = 3.4, df = 1, P = 0.03; chi 2 = 2.7, df = 1, P = 0.05, respectively). These results suggest the possibility that D3 polymorphisms may be among the physiological factors underlying schizophrenia; though not the determining factor.