BACKGROUND: Studies in humans and in animals have demonstrated that a network of brain regions is involved in performance of declarative and recognition memory tasks. This network includes the hippocampal formation (HF) as well as the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC). Studies in animals have suggested that the relationship between these brain regions is strongly modulated by dopamine. METHODS: Using fMRI in healthy humans matched for a series of demographic and genetic variables, we studied the effect of the COMT val158met polymorphism on function of HF and VLPFC as well as on their functional coupling during recognition memory. RESULTS: The COMT Val allele was associated with: relatively poorer performance at retrieval; reduced recruitment of neuronal resources in HF and increased recruitment in VLPFC during both encoding and retrieval; and unfavorable functional coupling between these two regions at retrieval. Moreover, functional coupling during retrieval was predictive of behavioral accuracy. CONCLUSIONS: These results shed new light on individual differences in responsivity and connectivity between HF and VLPFC related to genetic modulation of dopamine, a mechanism accounting at least in part for individual differences in recognition memory performance.
BACKGROUND: Studies in humans and in animals have demonstrated that a network of brain regions is involved in performance of declarative and recognition memory tasks. This network includes the hippocampal formation (HF) as well as the ventrolateral prefrontal cortex (VLPFC). Studies in animals have suggested that the relationship between these brain regions is strongly modulated by dopamine. METHODS: Using fMRI in healthy humans matched for a series of demographic and genetic variables, we studied the effect of the COMTval158met polymorphism on function of HF and VLPFC as well as on their functional coupling during recognition memory. RESULTS: The COMT Val allele was associated with: relatively poorer performance at retrieval; reduced recruitment of neuronal resources in HF and increased recruitment in VLPFC during both encoding and retrieval; and unfavorable functional coupling between these two regions at retrieval. Moreover, functional coupling during retrieval was predictive of behavioral accuracy. CONCLUSIONS: These results shed new light on individual differences in responsivity and connectivity between HF and VLPFC related to genetic modulation of dopamine, a mechanism accounting at least in part for individual differences in recognition memory performance.
Authors: D Scheggia; E Zamberletti; N Realini; M Mereu; G Contarini; V Ferretti; F Managò; G Margiani; R Brunoro; T Rubino; M A De Luca; D Piomelli; D Parolaro; F Papaleo Journal: Mol Psychiatry Date: 2017-06-20 Impact factor: 15.992
Authors: Fabio Sambataro; Vishnu P Murty; Joseph H Callicott; Hao-Yang Tan; Saumitra Das; Daniel R Weinberger; Venkata S Mattay Journal: Neurobiol Aging Date: 2008-07-31 Impact factor: 4.673
Authors: Joseph H Callicott; Emer L Feighery; Venkata S Mattay; Michael G White; Qiang Chen; David A A Baranger; Karen F Berman; Bai Lu; Hongjun Song; Guo-li Ming; Daniel R Weinberger Journal: J Clin Invest Date: 2013-07 Impact factor: 14.808
Authors: Robyn Honea; Beth A Verchinski; Lukas Pezawas; Bhaskar S Kolachana; Joseph H Callicott; Venkata S Mattay; Daniel R Weinberger; Andreas Meyer-Lindenberg Journal: Neuroimage Date: 2008-11-21 Impact factor: 6.556