Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

The Effects of DBH, MAOA, and MAOB on Attentional Biases for Facial Expressions

  • Published:
Journal of Molecular Neuroscience Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Attentional bias is the interaction that occurs between emotion and attention. Monoamine oxidase and dopamine β-hydroxylase are involved in the balances of neurotransmitters in the cortex. Much evidence has shown that those enzymes play important roles in human emotion and attention. To investigate the potential influences of some functional polymorphisms in DBH, MAOA, and MAOB on attentional bias, we performed a population-based study in a young Chinese Han group. The results indicated that −1021C/T in DBH was associated with index effect of the neutral facial expressions in spatial cueing task (F = 4.940, P = 0.007), and there was a positive correlation between the dosage of C allele and the index effect (r = 0.068, P = 0.040). Furthermore, we found significant interactions between 19-bp Ins/Del in DBH and VNTR of MAOA on attentional biases for negative expressions in spatial cueing task (F = 3.397, P = 0.009) and dot-probe task (F = 2.827, P = 0.024). The present study suggests that DBH and MAOA can influence human attentional biases, and there is a gene–gene interaction between the DBH and MAOA on attentional bias for negative expressions.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Asmundson GJ, Carleton RN et al (2005) Dot-probe evaluation of selective attentional processing of pain cues in patients with chronic headaches. Pain 114(1–2):250–256

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Bai L, Ma H, Huang YX, Luo YJ (2005) The development of native Chinese affective picture system—a pretest in 46 college students. Chin Ment Heal J 19(11):719–722

    Google Scholar 

  • Balciuniene J, Emilsson L et al (2002) Investigation of the functional effect of monoamine oxidase polymorphisms in human brain. Hum Genet 110(1):1–7

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Bellgrove MA, Hawi Z et al (2006) The cognitive genetics of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): sustained attention as a candidate phenotype. Cortex 42(6):838–845

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Britton JC, Rauch SL (2011) Attention bias modification and the serotonin transporter: personalized treatment implications of gene interactions with learning. Biol Psychiatry 70(11):1004–1005

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cisler JM, Koster EH (2010) Mechanisms of attentional biases towards threat in anxiety disorders: an integrative review. Clin Psychol Rev 30(2):203–216

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Cisler JM, Bacon AK et al (2009) Phenomenological characteristics of attentional biases towards threat: a critical review. Cognit Ther Res 33(2):221–234

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Costa-Mallen P, Kelada SN et al (2005) Characterization of the in vitro transcriptional activity of polymorphic alleles of the human monoamine oxidase-B gene. Neurosci Lett 383(1–2):171–175

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cubells JF, van Kammen DP et al (1998) Dopamine beta-hydroxylase: two polymorphisms in linkage disequilibrium at the structural gene DBH associate with biochemical phenotypic variation. Hum Genet 102(5):533–540

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Cubells JF, Kranzler HR et al (2000) A haplotype at the DBH locus, associated with low plasma dopamine beta-hydroxylase activity, also associates with cocaine-induced paranoia. Mol Psychiatry 5(1):56–63

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Das M, Bhowmik AD et al (2006) MAOA promoter polymorphism and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in Indian children. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet 141B(6):637–642

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Dehghani M, Sharpe L et al (2003) Selective attention to pain-related information in chronic musculoskeletal pain patients. Pain 105(1–2):37–46

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Dlugos AM, Palmer AA et al (2009) Negative emotionality: monoamine oxidase B gene variants modulate personality traits in healthy humans. J Neural Transm 116(10):1323–1334

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Faul F, Erdfelder E et al (2007) G*Power 3: a flexible statistical power analysis program for the social, behavioral, and biomedical sciences. Behav Res Methods 39(2):175–191

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Fernandez F, Colson N et al (2009) Association between migraine and a functional polymorphism at the dopamine beta-hydroxylase locus. Neurogenetics 10(3):199–208

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gibb BE, Benas JS et al (2009) Children’s attentional biases and 5-HTTLPR genotype: potential mechanisms linking mother and child depression. J Clin Child Adolesc Psychol 38(3):415–426

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Goldman D (2002) DBH and the functional taxonomy of major depressive disorder. Biol Psychiatry 51(5):347–348

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Gong P, Zheng A et al (2010) Association analysis between 12 genetic variants of ten genes and personality traits in a young Chinese Han population. J Mol Neurosci 42(1):120–126

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gong P, Li J et al (2011) Variants in COMT and DBH influence on response inhibition ability in Chinese Han females. Cell Mol Neurobiol 31(8):1163–1169

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Greene CM, Bellgrove MA et al (2009) Noradrenergic genotype predicts lapses in sustained attention. Neuropsychologia 47(2):591–594

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Guimaraes AP, Zeni C et al (2009) MAOA is associated with methylphenidate improvement of oppositional symptoms in boys with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Int J Neuropsychopharmacol 12(5):709–714

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Gunther S, Herold J et al (1995) Extraction of high quality DNA from bloodstains using diatoms. Int J Legal Med 108(3):154–156

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hamner MB, Gold PB (1998) Plasma dopamine beta-hydroxylase activity in psychotic and non-psychotic post-traumatic stress disorder. Psychiatry Res 77(3):175–181

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hodsoll S, Viding E et al (2011) Attentional capture by irrelevant emotional distractor faces. Emotion 11(2):346–353

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Hsu YP, Powell JF et al (1989) Molecular genetics of the monoamine oxidases. J Neurochem 53(1):12–18

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Huang YX, Luo YJ (2007) Attention shortage resistance of negative stimuli in an implicit emotional task. Neurosci Lett 412(2):134–138

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Hunt C, Keogh E et al (2006) Anxiety sensitivity: the role of conscious awareness and selective attentional bias to physical threat. Emotion 6(3):418–428

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kersting A, Kroker K et al (2007) Association of MAO-A variant with complicated grief in major depression. Neuropsychobiology 56(4):191–196

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kieling C, Genro JP et al (2008) The −1021 C/T DBH polymorphism is associated with neuropsychological performance among children and adolescents with ADHD. Am J Med Genet B Neuropsychiatr Genet 147B(4):485–490

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Kohnke MD, Zabetian CP et al (2002) A genotype-controlled analysis of plasma dopamine beta-hydroxylase in healthy and alcoholic subjects: evidence for alcohol-related differences in noradrenergic function. Biol Psychiatry 52(12):1151–1158

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • LeBlanc J, Ducharme MB (2007) Plasma dopamine and noradrenaline variations in response to stress. Physiol Behav 91(2–3):208–211

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • MacLeod C, Rutherford E et al (2002) Selective attention and emotional vulnerability: assessing the causal basis of their association through the experimental manipulation of attentional bias. J Abnorm Psychol 111(1):107–123

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Paclt I, Koudelova J et al (2009) Dopamine beta hydroxylase (DBH) plasma activity in childhood mental disorders. Neuro Endocrinol Lett 30(5):604–609

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Parsian A, Racette B et al (2004) Association of variations in monoamine oxidases A and B with Parkinson’s disease subgroups. Genomics 83(3):454–460

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pergamin-Hight L, Bakermans-Kranenburg MJ et al (2011) Variations in the promoter region of the serotonin transporter gene and biased attention for emotional information: a meta-analysis. Biol Psychiatry 71(4):373–379

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Pessoa L, Padmala S et al (2011) Interactions between cognition and emotion during response inhibition. Emotion 12(1):192–197

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Sabol SZ, Hu S et al (1998) A functional polymorphism in the monoamine oxidase A gene promoter. Hum Genet 103(3):273–279

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Tang YL, Epstein MP et al (2007) Genotypic and haplotypic associations of the DBH gene with plasma dopamine beta-hydroxylase activity in African Americans. Eur J Hum Genet 15(8):878–883

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Togsverd M, Werge TM et al (2008) Association of a dopamine beta-hydroxylase gene variant with depression in elderly women possibly reflecting noradrenergic dysfunction. J Affect Disord 106(1–2):169–172

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Yu YW, Tsai SJ et al (2005) Association study of a monoamine oxidase a gene promoter polymorphism with major depressive disorder and antidepressant response. Neuropsychopharmacology 30(9):1719–1723

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank all the participants and researchers in this study. Funding for this study was provided by Henan University of Science and Technology, Scientific Research Foundation for PH.D (09001498), and National Natural Science Foundation of China (30970967).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Laboratory of Pharmacology and Medical Molecular Biology, College of Medicine, Henan University of Science and Technology, 6 Anhui Road, Luoyang, 471003, China

    Pingyuan Gong, Shoumin Xi, Guomin Shen, She Li, Peizhe Zhang, Guochang Cao, Yan Shen, Tiantian Feng & Hua Ma

  2. Institute of Application Psychology, Northwest University, Xi’an, 710069, China

    Fuchang Zhang

Authors
  1. Pingyuan Gong
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Shoumin Xi
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Guomin Shen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. She Li
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Peizhe Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Guochang Cao
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Fuchang Zhang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Yan Shen
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Tiantian Feng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  10. Hua Ma
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Pingyuan Gong.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Gong, P., Xi, S., Shen, G. et al. The Effects of DBH, MAOA, and MAOB on Attentional Biases for Facial Expressions. J Mol Neurosci 49, 606–613 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12031-012-9894-2

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12031-012-9894-2

Keywords

Search

Navigation