Catechol‐O‐methyltransferase Val158Met polymorphism associates with affect and cortisol levels in women

• Published in: Brain and behavior Vol. 8; no. 2; pp. e00883 - n/a
• Main Authors: Hill, Lauren D., Lorenzetti, Margaret S., Lyle, Sarah M., Fins, Ana I., Tartar, Aurélien, Tartar, Jaime L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01-02-2018; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: Adult; affect; Affective Symptoms - blood; Affective Symptoms - genetics; Affective Symptoms - psychology; Anxiety - blood; Anxiety - genetics; Catechol O-Methyltransferase - genetics; catechol‐O‐methyltransferase; cortisol; Depression - blood; Depression - genetics; dopamine; emotion; Emotions - physiology; Female; Hormones; Humans; Hydrocortisone - blood; Mental Health; Middle Aged; Original Research; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; Quality of Life; women; cortisol; emotion; catechol‐O‐methyltransferase; dopamine; affect; women
• ISSN: 2162-3279; 2162-3279
• DOI: 10.1002/brb3.883

Introduction
We tested the extent to which the catechol‐O‐methyltransferase (COMT) Val158Met polymorphism is associated with affective state and evening cortisol levels. We limited our study to women as previous research suggests that the link between COMT genotype and psychological health is entangled by sex differences.
Materials and Methods
The participants were assessed on measures of anxiety, mood disturbance, depressive symptomatology, and perceived stress. We also evaluated participants on a quality of life measures that included two emotion domains and two physical domains (physical health and environment).
Results
We found that under normal (nonstress) conditions, the COMT A allele (Met carriers, higher dopamine) associates with healthier affect and lower afternoon cortisol levels in women. These effects were limited to affective measures and not to physical or environmental quality of life.
Conclusions
These findings help to shed light on the complex nature of COMT and emotion, and suggest that both sex and task condition (stress vs. nonstress) should be considered when examining the relationship between COMT genotype and emotion.
Results on affect inventories as a function of COMT genotype show that relative to Val homozygotes, Met allele carriers, with ostensibly higher PFC dopamine, have better affective health, including lower acute (middle left) and ongoing (middle right) mood disturbances, less depressive symptomatology (lower left), and less perceived stress (lower right). State and Trait anxieties were not different between the two COMT groups (upper left and right).