Dopamine D4 receptor polymorphism and idiopathic Parkinson's disease

Patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease (IPD) are described as having markedly decreased novelty seeking characteristics. Since recent publicatio ns suggest an association between the dopamine D4 receptor polymorphism and novelty seeking, we investigated this polymorphism in a group of 122 patie nts with IPD and 127 healthy control subjects, We found similar allele and genotype frequencies in both groups and no association with the age of onse t of symptoms, Therefore, the dopamine D4 receptor polymorphism does not co nfer genetic susceptibility to IPD and cannot explain the decreased novelty seeking in IPD patients.