Lcc. Lim et al., EVIDENCE FOR A GENETIC ASSOCIATION BETWEEN ALLELES OF MONOAMINE-OXIDASE A GENE AND BIPOLAR AFFECTIVE-DISORDER, American journal of medical genetics, 60(4), 1995, pp. 325-331
We present evidence of a genetic association between bipolar disorder
and alleles at 3 monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) markers, but not with alle
les of a monoamine oxidase B (MAOB) polymorphism, The 3 MAOA markers,
including one associated with low MAOA activity, show strong allelic a
ssociation with each other but surprisingly not with MAOB, Our results
are significant only for females, though the number of males in our s
ample is too small to draw any definite conclusions, Our data is consi
stent with recent reports of reduced MAOA activity in patients with ab
normal behavioral phenotypes, The strength of the association is weak,
but significant, which suggests that alleles at the MAOA locus contri
bute to susceptibility to bipolar disorder rather than being a major d
eterminant. (C) 1995 Wiley-Liss, Inc.