caa a22 4500 445376279 CHVBK 20180317143003.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170323e20110901xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/s00702-011-0625-6 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/s00702-011-0625-6 Variation in genes involved in dopamine clearance influence the startle response in older adults [Elektronische Daten] [Diana Armbruster, Anett Mueller, Alexander Strobel, Klaus-Peter Lesch, Clemens Kirschbaum, Burkhard Brocke] The dopamine transporter (DAT) and the enzyme catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) both terminate synaptic dopamine action. Here, we investigated the influence of two polymorphisms in the respective genes: DAT1 (SLC6A3) VNTR and COMT val158met (rs4680). Startle magnitudes to intense noise bursts as measured with the eye blink response were recorded during the presentation of pictures of three valence conditions (unpleasant, pleasant and neutral) and during baseline without additional pictorial stimulation in a sample of healthy older adults (N=94). There was a significant Bonferroni corrected main effect of COMT genotype on the overall startle responses, with met/met homozygotes showing the highest and participants with the val/val genotype showing the lowest startle response, while participants with the val/met genotype displayed intermediate reactions. There was also a DAT1 VNTR main effect, which, after Bonferroni correction, still showed a tendency toward significance with carriers of at least one 9-repeat (R) allele showing smaller overall startle responses compared to 10R/10R homozygotes. Thus, older adult carriers of COMT variants, which result in lower enzyme activity and therefore probably enhanced dopamine signaling, showed stronger startle activity. Although the functional significance of DAT1 VNTR is less defined, our results point to a potential influence of SLC6A3 on startle magnitude. Springer-Verlag, 2011 Acoustic startle response nationallicence COMT Val158Met nationallicence DAT1 VNTR nationallicence Older adults nationallicence Fear nationallicence Anxiety nationallicence Armbruster Diana Personality and Individual Differences, Institute of Psychology II, Dresden University of Technology, 01062, Dresden, Germany aut Mueller Anett Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, USA aut Strobel Alexander Personality and Individual Differences, Institute of Psychology II, Dresden University of Technology, 01062, Dresden, Germany aut Lesch Klaus-Peter Molecular Psychiatry, Laboratory of Translational Neurobiology, Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany aut Kirschbaum Clemens Institute of Psychology I, Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany aut Brocke Burkhard Personality and Individual Differences, Institute of Psychology II, Dresden University of Technology, 01062, Dresden, Germany aut Journal of Neural Transmission Springer Vienna 118/9(2011-09-01), 1281-1292 0300-9564 118:9<1281 2011 118 702 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-011-0625-6 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-011-0625-6 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Armbruster Diana Personality and Individual Differences, Institute of Psychology II, Dresden University of Technology, 01062, Dresden, Germany aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Mueller Anett Department of Psychology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, USA aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Strobel Alexander Personality and Individual Differences, Institute of Psychology II, Dresden University of Technology, 01062, Dresden, Germany aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Lesch Klaus-Peter Molecular Psychiatry, Laboratory of Translational Neurobiology, Department of Psychiatry, Psychosomatics, and Psychotherapy, University of Würzburg, Würzburg, Germany aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Kirschbaum Clemens Institute of Psychology I, Dresden University of Technology, Dresden, Germany aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Brocke Burkhard Personality and Individual Differences, Institute of Psychology II, Dresden University of Technology, 01062, Dresden, Germany aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Journal of Neural Transmission Springer Vienna 118/9(2011-09-01), 1281-1292 0300-9564 118:9<1281 2011 118 702 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer