TY - JOUR
T1 - Morphological correlates of MAO A VNTR polymorphism
T2 - New evidence from cortical thickness measurement
AU - Cerasa, Antonio
AU - Cherubini, Andrea
AU - Quattrone, Aldo
AU - Gioia, Maria C.
AU - Magariello, Angela
AU - Muglia, Maria
AU - Manna, Ida
AU - Assogna, Francesca
AU - Caltagirone, Carlo
AU - Spalletta, Gianfranco
PY - 2010/7
Y1 - 2010/7
N2 - A functional variant in the mono-amine oxidase A (MAO A) gene has been shown to impact neural function related to cognitive and affective processing and increase risk for conduct disorders. However, whether MAO A could be a candidate gene for structural variation in the human brain remains to be clarified. This study is the first to investigate the effect of this genotype on brain morphology by measuring cortical thickness. We genotyped 59 healthy male subjects (36 carrying the MAO A High-activity allele and 23 the MAO A Low-activity allele) who underwent structural MRI at 3. T. Models of the grey-white and pial surfaces were generated for each individual's cortices, and the distance between these two surfaces was used to compute cortical thickness within a priori regions of interest of the orbitofrontal and cingulate cortices. Surface-based analysis of the cortical mantle showed that the MAO A genotype was associated with structural differences in the orbitofrontal cortex bilaterally, where the MAO A High-activity group showed the highest cortical thickness value and the MAO A Low-activity group the lowest. Otherwise, no significant difference was detected within the cingulate cortex. Thus, we confirm the hypothesis that the MAO A genotype has a specific impact on human brain morphology. In particular, thickness measurement of the orbitofrontal cortex provides new evidence about the biological impact of the MAO A genotype on neural systems relevant to the pathophysiology of behavioural disorders.
AB - A functional variant in the mono-amine oxidase A (MAO A) gene has been shown to impact neural function related to cognitive and affective processing and increase risk for conduct disorders. However, whether MAO A could be a candidate gene for structural variation in the human brain remains to be clarified. This study is the first to investigate the effect of this genotype on brain morphology by measuring cortical thickness. We genotyped 59 healthy male subjects (36 carrying the MAO A High-activity allele and 23 the MAO A Low-activity allele) who underwent structural MRI at 3. T. Models of the grey-white and pial surfaces were generated for each individual's cortices, and the distance between these two surfaces was used to compute cortical thickness within a priori regions of interest of the orbitofrontal and cingulate cortices. Surface-based analysis of the cortical mantle showed that the MAO A genotype was associated with structural differences in the orbitofrontal cortex bilaterally, where the MAO A High-activity group showed the highest cortical thickness value and the MAO A Low-activity group the lowest. Otherwise, no significant difference was detected within the cingulate cortex. Thus, we confirm the hypothesis that the MAO A genotype has a specific impact on human brain morphology. In particular, thickness measurement of the orbitofrontal cortex provides new evidence about the biological impact of the MAO A genotype on neural systems relevant to the pathophysiology of behavioural disorders.
KW - Cortical thickness
KW - Imaging genetics
KW - MAO A VNTR genotype
KW - Orbitofrontal cortex
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=77952323595&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=77952323595&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.bbr.2010.03.021
DO - 10.1016/j.bbr.2010.03.021
M3 - Article
C2 - 20303364
AN - SCOPUS:77952323595
VL - 211
SP - 118
EP - 124
JO - Behavioural Brain Research
JF - Behavioural Brain Research
SN - 0166-4328
IS - 1
ER -