TY - JOUR
T1 - Effect of Schizotypy on Cognitive Performance and Its Tuning by COMT val158 Met Genotype Variations in a Large Population of Young Men
AU - Smyrnis, Nikolaos
AU - Avramopoulos, Dimitrios
AU - Evdokimidis, Ioannis
AU - Stefanis, Costas N.
AU - Tsekou, Hara
AU - Stefanis, Nicholas C.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Grant EKBAN 97 to CNS from the General Secretariat of Research and Technology of the Greek Ministry of Development. Intrasoft provided the technical support for this project. The authors thank Dr. Ioannis Ntzioufras for statistical advice.
PY - 2007/4/1
Y1 - 2007/4/1
N2 - Background: Mirroring schizophrenia, specific dimensions of schizotypy are related to cognitive dysfunction. The relation of schizotypy and state psychopathology to cognitive performance and its link to catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) val158 met genotype variations was studied in a large sample of young men. Methods: State psychopathology and schizotypy were assessed with self-rated questionnaires. Cognitive performance was assessed with tests of reasoning ability, sustained attention, and verbal and spatial working memory. Subjects were genotyped for the val158 met polymorphism of the gene for COMT (low enzymatic activity met/met, intermediate met/val, and high val/val). Results: The val/val group had higher scores in measures of state psychopathology as well as negative and disorganized schizotypy dimensions, whereas there was no effect of COMT genotype on cognitive performance measures. Structural equation modeling showed that cognitive performance accuracy but not speed decreased with increasing negative schizotypy, increased with increasing paranoid schizotypy, and was not affected by state psychopathology. Increasing val loading resulted in a dose-dependent increase in the factor loading for the relation between negative schizotypy and cognitive performance accuracy. Conclusions: Different schizotypal phenotypes had opposing relations to cognitive performance in the population. COMT genotype modulated the relation between the negative schizotypal phenotype and cognitive performance.
AB - Background: Mirroring schizophrenia, specific dimensions of schizotypy are related to cognitive dysfunction. The relation of schizotypy and state psychopathology to cognitive performance and its link to catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) val158 met genotype variations was studied in a large sample of young men. Methods: State psychopathology and schizotypy were assessed with self-rated questionnaires. Cognitive performance was assessed with tests of reasoning ability, sustained attention, and verbal and spatial working memory. Subjects were genotyped for the val158 met polymorphism of the gene for COMT (low enzymatic activity met/met, intermediate met/val, and high val/val). Results: The val/val group had higher scores in measures of state psychopathology as well as negative and disorganized schizotypy dimensions, whereas there was no effect of COMT genotype on cognitive performance measures. Structural equation modeling showed that cognitive performance accuracy but not speed decreased with increasing negative schizotypy, increased with increasing paranoid schizotypy, and was not affected by state psychopathology. Increasing val loading resulted in a dose-dependent increase in the factor loading for the relation between negative schizotypy and cognitive performance accuracy. Conclusions: Different schizotypal phenotypes had opposing relations to cognitive performance in the population. COMT genotype modulated the relation between the negative schizotypal phenotype and cognitive performance.
KW - COMT
KW - Catechol-O-methyltransferase
KW - dopamine
KW - executive function
KW - prefrontal cortex
KW - schizophrenia
KW - schizotypy factors
KW - sustained attention
KW - working memory
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U2 - 10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.07.019
DO - 10.1016/j.biopsych.2006.07.019
M3 - Article
C2 - 17123481
AN - SCOPUS:33947158684
SN - 0006-3223
VL - 61
SP - 845
EP - 853
JO - Biological psychiatry
JF - Biological psychiatry
IS - 7
ER -