Sex moderates the association between the COMT Val158Met single-nucleotide polymorphism and disorderliness facet of novelty seeking.

Paolo Scacchia, Micaela Lucarelli, Maria Teresa Fiorenza, Sonia Canterini, Vilfredo De Pascalis

Neuroscience research 2021 Sep

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Previous studies have shown inconsistent results regarding the effect of the Val158Met polymorphism of the catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) gene on personality and cognition. Here, nonclinical Caucasian university students of Italian origin were administered the Temperament and Character Inventory-Revised, Tellegen Absorption Scale, Differential Attentional Processes Inventory, and Waterloo-Stanford Group Scale of Hypnotic Susceptibility. We found that the COMT Val158Met polymorphism was significantly associated with the disorderliness facet of novelty seeking (NS4) and that sex was a moderator of this association. Females with the Met/Met genotype showed higher NS4 scores compared to those with the Val/Met and Val/Val genotypes. No significant genotype effect was found for males. Additionally, we failed to find a significant effect of the COMT gene on attention and hypnotic suggestibility measures. These results provide further evidence for a sex-specific influence on the gene-behaviour associations. Copyright © 2020 Elsevier B.V. and Japan Neuroscience Society. All rights reserved.

Citation

Paolo Scacchia, Micaela Lucarelli, Maria Teresa Fiorenza, Sonia Canterini, Vilfredo De Pascalis. Sex moderates the association between the COMT Val158Met single-nucleotide polymorphism and disorderliness facet of novelty seeking. Neuroscience research. 2021 Sep;170:364-369