COMT polymorphism regulates the hippocampal subfield volumes in first-episode, drug-naive patients with major depressive disorder

Purpose: Compared with healthy subjects (HS), patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) exhibit volume differences that affect the volume changes in several areas such as the limbic, cortical, subcortical, and white matter. Catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) is a methylation enzyme that catalyzes endogenous catecholamines. The Val158Met polymorphism of COMT has been reported to affect the dopamine (DA) levels, which plays an important role in psychiatric diseases. However, the relationships among both DA levels, COMT genotype, and brain morphology are complicated and controversial. In previous studies that investigated the hippocampal subfields, the greatest brain abnormalities in MDD patients were observed in Cornu Ammonis (CA)1 and the subiculum, followed by that in CA2-3. We have prospectively demonstrated the relationship between the single-nucleotide polymorphism of the Val158Met COMT gene (rs4680) and the hippocampal subfields in drug-naive MDD patients. Patients and methods: In this study, we compared 27 MDD patients and 42 HS who were divided into groups based on their COMT genotype. The effects of the diagnosis, genotype, and genotype–diagnosis interaction related to CA1 and the subiculum volumes, as well as the whole-brain cortical thickness, were evaluated by performing a FreeSurfer statistical analysis of high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) findings. Results: The results revealed that there was a statistically significant interaction between the effects of diagnosis and genotype on the right subiculum (a component of the hippocampus). Conclusion: This Val158Met COMT polymorphism may influence the subiculum volume in drug-naive, first-episode MDD patients.