No Association Is Found between the Candidate Genes of t‐PA/Plasminogen System and Japanese Methamphetamine‐Related Disorder: A Collaborative Study by the Japanese Genetics Initiative for Drug Abuse

Abstract

In the central nervous system, tissue-plasminogen activator (t-PA)/plasmin system is involved in long-term synaptic plasticity and remodeling, and participates in rewarding effects of methamphetamine (MAP), by acutely regulating MAP-induced dopamine release in the nucleus accumbens. The aim of this study was to examine the relationships between the patients with MAP abusers/psychosis and the t-PA/plasminogen system genes. Subjects comprised 185 MAP abusers and 288 healthy controls. Four polymorphisms in the t-PA, plasminogen activator inhibitor, and plasminogen genes were examined in the present study. No significant differences were observed in each polymorphism between healthy controls and MAP abusers/psychosis. This study suggests that t-PA/plasminogen system is unlikely to be a major contributor to the substance abuse liability and/or the development of MAP psychosis.