Effects of the Interaction Between the Level of Anxiety and the Val66Met Polymorphism of the Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Gene on Attention in Patients with Schizophrenia Spectrum Disorders

• Published in: Neuroscience and behavioral physiology 2015-03, Vol.45 (3), p.332-337
• Main Authors: Golimbet, V. E., Lebedeva, I. S., Alfimova, M. V., Korovaitseva, G. I., Lezheiko, T. V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Anxiety; Behavioral Sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Neurobiology; Neurosciences
• ISSN: 0097-0549; 1573-899X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11055-015-0076-x

The effects of the Val66Met polymorphism of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) gene and levels of trait anxiety (negative emotionality) on attention were studied in 90 patients with schizophrenia and schizoaffective psychosis. Attention was evaluated using auditory event-related potentials (ERP) and neuropsychological testing. Genotype was found to have a significant effect (anxiety was not) on the efficiency of performing the neuropsychological test on attention and the amplitude of the ERP P300 wave in the frontal and temporal leads. Carriers of the Met allele has poorer performance of the attention task than subjects with the ValVal genotype, and also showed a lower P300 wave amplitude. Genotype combined with the level of anxiety was found to affect the N100 wave in response to the non-significant stimulus, significant differences being seen only in the group with a low level of anxiety: the Met allele was associated with lower N100 amplitudes. Among patients with high levels of anxiety, N100 wave amplitude was independent of the BDNF gene variant present. It is suggested that people with high levels of anxiety expend more effort to solve the task correctly at the early stages of signal recognition, the amplitudedecreasing effect of the “risk allele” being eliminated.