ABSTRACT
Little is known about criminality of cognitively impaired people and also there have been no reports on the relationship between catechol-O-methyl transferase (COMT) and committed Mental Retardation (MR) subjects. In the present study, the association between committed (violent offences) MR subjects and genetic variants of COMT were investigated by using polymerase chain reaction and based restriction fragment length polymorphism methods. During 6 years of follow-up, 36 violent offenders with mild MR were investigated. Thirty-six control volunteers were included in the study as a control group. H/L polymorphism of the COMT gene was investigated in these two groups. In conclusion, the COMT gene genotype distribution and allele frequency is not significantly different between the two groups (p > 0.05). This result suggests that the H/L polymorphism of the COMT gene does not show an association with the potential of "commits-violent offense" of Turkish subjects with mental retardation, compared with control group.
Subject(s)
Catechol O-Methyltransferase/genetics , Intellectual Disability/epidemiology , Polymorphism, Restriction Fragment Length , Violence , Adolescent , Case-Control Studies , Female , Follow-Up Studies , Gene Frequency , Genotype , Humans , Male , Polymerase Chain Reaction , TurkeyABSTRACT
Cannabis stimulates dopamine release and activates dopaminergic reward neurons in central pathways that lead to enhanced dependence. Catechol-O-methyl transferase (COMT) inactivates amplified extraneuronally released dopamine. A functional polymorphism (COMT Val158Met) resulting in increased enzyme activity has been associated with polysubstance abuse and addiction to heroin and methamphetamine. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between the COMT Val158Met polymorphism and use of cannabis. Fifty-five cannabis users and 75 normal controls were enrolled in this study. Polymerase chain reaction-based genotyping was used to evaluate the presence of COMT gene polymorphism. There was a difference in genotype frequencies between cannabis users and controls, including the distribution of the COMT genotypes (H/H, H/L) (P < 0.001) and alleles (H, L) (P < 0.01), when comparing the patient groups and the control individuals. However, LL genotype distribution was similar between the groups. These results suggest a significant association between COMT Val158Met polymorphism and susceptibility to cannabis dependence.
