A functional polymorphism of the GTP cyclohydrolase 1 gene predicts attention performance

•GTP cyclohydrolase I (GCH) is the enzyme for biosynthesis of tetrahydrobiopterin.•We examined the association of a functional rs841 with attentional function.•There was significant difference in scores of the CPT-IP test among the genotypes.•Our data suggest relation of the GCH expression to attent...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Neuroscience letters 2014-04, Vol.566, p.46-49
Main Authors: Yasuda, Yuka, Hashimoto, Ryota, Ohi, Kazutaka, Yamamori, Hidenaga, Fujimoto, Michiko, Umeda-Yano, Satomi, Fujino, Haruo, Fukunaga, Masaki, Horiguchi, Mieko, Takeda, Masatoshi, Ichinose, Hiroshi
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Attention
Attention/vigilance
Cognition
Continuous performance test
Female
Genetic Association Studies
Genotype
GTP Cyclohydrolase - genetics
GTP cyclohydrolase 1
Humans
Male
Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
SNP
Tetrahydrobiopterin
Young Adult
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Summary:•GTP cyclohydrolase I (GCH) is the enzyme for biosynthesis of tetrahydrobiopterin.•We examined the association of a functional rs841 with attentional function.•There was significant difference in scores of the CPT-IP test among the genotypes.•Our data suggest relation of the GCH expression to attentional function. Guanosine triphosphate cyclohydrolase 1 (GCH1) is the rate-limiting enzyme for the biosynthesis of tetrahydrobiopterin, a cofactor for aromatic amino acid hydroxylases and nitric oxide synthases. As monoamine neurotransmitters are synthesized by the reactions catalyzed by tyrosine hydroxylase and tryptophan hydroxylase, alterations in the content of tetrahydrobiopterin affect the monoamine levels in the brain. Here, we examined the possible association of a functional single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of the GCH1 gene, rs841 (C+243T), with attentional function as assessed by the Continuous Performance Test-Identical Pairs version (CPT-IP) in healthy individuals. We found that homozygous T/T genotype carriers of rs841 scored lower performance on the CPT-IP test. Our data suggest that alterations in GCH1 activity affect attentional function, especially sustained attention and vigilance.
ISSN:0304-3940
1872-7972
DOI:10.1016/j.neulet.2014.02.019