An association study on the polymorphisms of dopaminergic genes with working memory in a healthy Chinese Han population.

Working memory (WM) is a highly heritable cognitive trait that is involved in many higher-level cognitive functions. In the past few years, much evidence has indicated that the reduction of dopamine activity in human brain can impair the WM system of the neuropsychiatric disorders. In this study, we hypothesized that some genes in the dopamine system were involved in the individual difference of the cognitive ability in healthy population. To confirm this hypothesis, a population-based study was performed to examine the effects of COMT, DAT (1), DRD (1), DRD (2), DRD (3), and DRD (4) on WM spans. Our results indicated there were significant associations of TaqIA and TaqIB in DRD (2) with digital WM span, respectively (χ(2) = 9.460, p = 0.009; χ(2) = 6.845, p = 0.033). On the other hand, we found a significant interaction between Ser9Gly in DRD (3) and TaqIA of DRD (2) on digital WM span (F = 3.207, p = 0.013). COMT, DAT (1) , DRD (1), and DRD (4), however, had no significant effects on digital and spatial WM spans (χ(2)<3.84, p > 0.05). These preliminary results further indicated that certain functional variants in dopamine system, such as TaqIA and TaqIB of DRD (2), were possibly involved in difference of WM in a healthy population.