Associations of serotonin transporter gene promoter polymorphisms and monoamine oxidase A gene polymorphisms with oppositional defiant disorder in a Chinese Han population

Chang-Hong Wang,Hui-Yao Nie,Xiang-Yang Zhang,Lin-Yan Su,Ting-Ting Lv,En-Zhao Cong,Ying-Li Zhang,Cong Liu,Xiao-Li Zhang,Qiu-Fen Ning,Jing-Yang Gu,Yan Li

doi:10.1186/s12993-018-0147-6

Abstract

BackgroundOppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is a behavioral disorder that mainly refers to a recurrent pattern of disobedient, defiant, negativistic and hostile behaviors toward authority figures. Previous studies have showed associations of serotonin transporter (5-HTT) and monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) with behavioral and psychiatric disorders. The purposes of this study were to investigate the potential association of 5-HTT gene promoter polymorphism (5-HTTLPR) and MAOA gene polymorphism with susceptibility to ODD in a Han Chinese school population.MethodsThe 5-HTTLPR gene polymorphism and the MAOA gene polymorphism were genotyped in a case–control study of 257 Han Chinese children (123 ODD and 134 healthy controls).ResultsThere was significant difference in the allele distribution of 5-HTTLPR (χ2 = 7.849, P = 0.005) between the ODD and control groups. Further, there were significant differences in genotype (χ2 = 5.168, P = 0.023) and allele distributions (χ2 = 10.336, P = 0.001) of the MAOA gene polymorphism that is variable-number tandem repeat (MAOA-uVNTR) between two groups. Moreover, there were significant differences in genotype (χ2 = 4.624, P = 0.032) and allele distributions (χ2 = 9.248, P = 0.002) of MAOA-uVNTR only in the male ODD and healthy groups.ConclusionsOur results suggest that 5-HTTLPR and MAOA-uVNTR gene variants may contribute to susceptibility to ODD. Further, MAOA-uVNTR gene polymorphism may play a role in susceptibility to ODD only in male children.

Highlights

Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), a common childhood disorder, is a behavioral disorder that mainly refers to a recurrent pattern of disobedient, defiant, negativistic and hostile behavior toward authority figures [1,2,3]
The genotypic distributions of monoamine oxidase A (MAOA)-uVNTR were in agreement with the Hardy–Weinberg equilibrium (HWE) in females, in both the ODD (χ2 = 0.422, df = 1, P = 0.516) and control groups (χ2 = 0.107, df = 1, P = 0.743)
The genotype and allele frequencies of HTTLPR and MAOA-uTNTR in the ODD and control groups are shown in Tables 1 and 2

Summary

Introduction

Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD) is a behavioral disorder that mainly refers to a recurrent pattern of disobedient, defiant, negativistic and hostile behaviors toward authority figures. Previous studies have showed asso‐ ciations of serotonin transporter (5-HTT) and monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) with behavioral and psychiatric disor‐ ders. Oppositional defiant disorder (ODD), a common childhood disorder, is a behavioral disorder that mainly refers to a recurrent pattern of disobedient, defiant, negativistic and hostile behavior toward authority figures [1,2,3]. Even mild stimulation can lead to impulsive actions or intense emotional reaction from the children with ODD, since they may have trouble in controlling their temper. ODD is one of the leading reasons for referral to youth mental health services [6]. The previous studies have indicated that ODD possesses some of its own characteristics such as moderate heritability, substantially stable over time [9], and familial clustering [1], suggesting an underlying genetic component

Methods

Results

Conclusion