Peculiarities of the evoked brain activity in ranking the emotionally charged scenes by women with different genotypes of Val158Met (G472A) COMT polymorphism

Abstract

The article presents the results of a study on the spatio-temporal and amplitude characteristics of stimulated brain activity in ranking emotionally-charged scenes in 61 right-handed women, aged from 18 to 24 years, with different genotypes of Val158Met (G472A) COMT polymorphism (GG connotes high activity of the enzyme COMT, the average level of dopamine in the prefrontal brain areas; GA middle ranking COMT activity with an above average dopamine level; AA low activity of the enzyme COMT with a high concentration of dopamine in the prefrontal brain cortex). The contemporary view of the Val158Met (G472A) polymorphism of COMT gene functions and its links with emotional, cognitive and personality characteristics are considered. The relationship between the specifics of the structure of the gene and the brain mechanisms involved in the assessment of emotionally-charged stimuli, are described Refs 15. Figs 4.