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Serotonin transporter (5-HTTLPR) and monoamine oxidase (MAOA) promoter polymorphisms in women with severe alcoholism

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Abstract

The serotonin system is known to play a pivotal role for mood, behaviour and psychic illness as e.g. alcoholism. Alcoholism in both males and females has been associated with polymorphisms in genes encoding for proteins of importance for central serotonergic function. Genotyping of two functional polymorphisms in the promoter region of the serotonin transporter and monoamine oxidase-A, respectively, (5-HTT-LPR and MAOA-VNTR), was performed in a group of women with severe alcohol addiction. A large sample of adolescent females from a normal population was used as controls. A significantly higher frequency of the LL 5-HTT genotype (high activity) was found in female addicts without a known co-morbid psychiatric disorder than in the controls. Genotype of the MAOA-VNTR polymorphism did not differ significantly between addicts and controls. However, within the group of alcoholics, when the patients with known co-morbid psychiatric disorders were excluded, aggressive anti-social behaviour was significantly linked to the presence of the high activity MAOA allele. The pattern of associations between genotypes of 5-HTT-LPR and MAOA-VNTR in women with severe alcoholism differs from most corresponding studies on males.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to express our gratitude to Drs. Erika Comasco and Niklas Nordquist for excellent work with genotyping of the control population. The study was supported by grants from the Swedish Res. Foundation (VR), AFA and SRA.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuroscience, Pharmacology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, 751 24, Sweden

    Camilla Gokturk & Lars Oreland

  2. Department of Neuroscience, Psychiatry, Uppsala University Hospital, Uppsala, 751 85, Sweden

    Stefan Schultze, Lars von Knorring & Jarmila Hallman

  3. Center for Clinical Research, Central Hospital Västerås, Västerås, 721 89, Sweden

    Kent W. Nilsson

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  1. Camilla Gokturk
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  2. Stefan Schultze
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  3. Kent W. Nilsson
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  5. Lars Oreland
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  6. Jarmila Hallman
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Correspondence to Jarmila Hallman.

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Gokturk, C., Schultze, S., Nilsson, K.W. et al. Serotonin transporter (5-HTTLPR) and monoamine oxidase (MAOA) promoter polymorphisms in women with severe alcoholism. Arch Womens Ment Health 11, 347–355 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00737-008-0033-6

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