ASSOCIATION STUDY OF BIPOLAR DISORDER WITH CANDIDATE GENES INVOLVED IN CATECHOLAMINE NEUROTRANSMISSION - DRD2, DRD3, DAT1, AND TH GENES

Despite strong evidence for genetic involvement in the etiology of aff ective disorders (from twin adoption and family studies), linkage and association methodologies are still exploring the nature of genetic fa ctors in these diseases. Interesting testable hypotheses have been des cribed, including candidate genes involved in catecholamine neurotrans mission. We studied 69 bipolar patients and 69 matched controls (for a ge, sex, and geographical origin) for association and linkage disequil ibrium with DNA markers at the following genes: the tyrosine hydroxyla se gene, dopamine transporter gene, and dopamine D2 and D3 receptor ge nes. Association and linkage disequilibrium were excluded between bipo lar affective disorder and these four candidate genes in our sample. ( C) 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.