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Oculomotor Control Asymmetry in Antisaccade Task in Carriers of Val158Met Polymorphic Variants of the Cateholamine-O-Methyltransferase Gene

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Abstract

The comprehensive assessment of the effect of the catecholamine-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene Val158Met polymorphism on the antisaccade (AS) performance and the characteristics of slow potentials was carried out in the work. The analysis of saccade characteristics included the side of the stimulus presentation and the saccade direction. The study involved 43 male volunteers. In carriers of val allele, the latency variability (coefficient of variation, Kvar) was higher than in carriers of met/met genotype with significant differences for right-side saccades (performed in response to the left stimuli). Along with this, in carriers of val/val genotype, the amplitude of the negative shift associated with cortical activation was increased in the frontal regions of the cortex relative to carriers of the met/met genotype. These results indicate a definite advantage of met/met genotype carriers in AS performance. Specific asymmetries were found for different genotypes: in carriers of met/met homozygote, the errors’ percent was almost twice higher in response to the stimulus at the left than to the stimulus at the right; in carriers of val allele, the latency of saccades and Kvar for the left stimulus were significantly higher than that for the right one. The analysis showed a relative decrease in the efficiency of the right hemisphere in carriers of met/met genotype, and the left hemisphere in val/val genotype carriers.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Serbsky National Medical Research Center for Psychiatry and Narcology, Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, 119034, Moscow, Russia

    A. V. Kirenskaya, V. Yu. Novototsky-Vlasov & Z. I. Storozheva

  2. Institute of Biomedical Problems, Russian Academy of Sciences, 123007, Moscow, Russia

    A. M. Ryabova

  3. Anokhin Institute of Normal Physiology, 103009, Moscow, Russia

    M. A. Gruden

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  1. A. V. Kirenskaya
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  2. A. M. Ryabova
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Correspondence to A. V. Kirenskaya.

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COMPLIANCE WITH ETHICAL STANDARDS

All studies were performed in accordance with the principles of biomedical ethics formulated in the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments and and approved by the local Bioethical Committee of the Serbsky National Medical Research Center for Psychiatry and Narcology, Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation (Moscow).

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The authors declare that they have no obvious and potential conflicts of interest related to the publication of this article.

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Each participant involved in the study provided a voluntary written informed consent, signed by him after explaining the potential risks and benefits, as well as the nature of the upcoming study.

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Translated by D. Novikova

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Kirenskaya, A.V., Ryabova, A.M., Gruden, M.A. et al. Oculomotor Control Asymmetry in Antisaccade Task in Carriers of Val158Met Polymorphic Variants of the Cateholamine-O-Methyltransferase Gene. Hum Physiol 47, 260–269 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1134/S0362119721030075

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