RESUMO
OBJECTIVE: Several lines of pharmacological evidences including the data of animal studies indicate that serotonin 2C receptor (5HT2C) is involved in the pharmacodynamic process of serotonin dopamine antagonists (SDA)-induced weight gain. Controversial data have been reported on the association between the polymorphisms of 5HT2C receptor gene and antipsychotics-induced weight gain. This study aims at investigating the association between the polymorphisms of 5HT2C receptor gene and SDA-induced weight gain in korean schizophrenic patients. METHODS: Seventy-seven schizophrenia patients in their first episode or patients who did not take any antipsychotics for the previous two months were recruited. All the patients were administered with one of the SDAs (risperidone, olanzapine, quetiapine, clozapine) for 8weeks. Body mass index (BMI) were measured weekly during the 8weeks. The subjects were genotyped for the -759 C/T and -697 G/C polymorphism of the 5HT2C receptor gene. RESULTS: The degree of linkage disequilibrium between the two polymorphic loci genotyped are almost 100%. Significant association was not observed between polymorphisms of the 5HT2C receptor gene (-759 C/T and -697 G/C) and SDA-induced weight gain after 8 weeks of treatment. CONCLUSION: Our data do not support the involvement of the polymorphisms of 5HT2C receptor gene (-759 C/T and -697 G/C) in SDA- induced weight gain. Further studies with sufficient sample size are warranted to follow up on the trend of high weight gain in the male patients having -759 T (-697 C) allele.