Studies evaluating the association between brain structures (global or regional grey and white matter volumes) and the COMT Val158Met polymorphism
| Study | No. patients | Diagnosis | No. controls (relatives) | MRI analysis (Tesla) | Regions evaluated | Main results |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Barnes et al. (76) | — | 82 | Automated (1.5 T) | Total grey matter volume, DLPFC | No association | |
| Cerasa et al. (77) | — | 149 | Automated (3 T) | Whole brain | Val/Val ↓ thickness of the right inferior prefrontal sulcus and right superior temporal sulcus | |
| Ehrlich et al. (9) | 98 | Schizophrenia | 114 | Automated (3 T and 1.5 T) | Whole brain, frontal lobe, hippocampal and amygdala volumes | Patients: Val/Val Val/Met ↓ bilateral amygdala and right hippocampal volumes; no association between COMT and whole brain and frontal regions Controls: Val/Val Val/Met ↓ bilateral amygdalae and right hippocampal volumes; no association between COMT and whole brain and frontal regions |
| Honea et al. (78) | — | 151 | Automated VBM/ROI (1.5 T) | Whole brain, DLPFC, hippocampal volumes | Val/Val Val/Met ↓ grey matter volume in hippocampus and parahippocampal gyrus; Val/Val ↑ (trend) grey matter volume in DLPFC; no association between COMT and whole brain | |
| Dutt et al. (79) | 128 | Schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, schizoaffective disorder, psychotic disorder NOS | 61 (194) | Automated (1.5 T) | Left hippocampal volume, right hippocampal volume and total lateral ventricular volume | No association |
| Zinkstok et al. (80) | 51 | Schizophrenia, schizoaffective disorder | — | Automated VBM (1.5 T) | Regional grey and white matter density and total grey and white matter volume | No association between COMT and grey or white matter density; COMT x PRODH rs20086720: Val allele T allele ↑ white matter density in the left inferior frontal lobe |
| Cerasa et al. (81) | — | 57 | Automated VBM (1.5 T) | Hippocampus and prefrontal cortex volumes | Val/Val ↓ hippocampal grey matter volumes bilaterally; Val/Val Val/Met ↑ prefrontal cortex greater grey matter volume bilaterally and ↓ tissue volume of the hippocampus bilaterally | |
| Taylor et al. (82) | — | 31 | Automated (1.5 T) | Whole brain, hippcampus, amygdala, caudate and temporal lobe volumes | Val/Val ↓ temporal lobe (total and grey matter) and hippocampus volumes; no association between COMT and whole brain, caudate and amygdala volumes. | |
| McIntosh et al. (10) | — | High-risk for schizophrenia | 15 (78) | Automated VBM (1 T) | Prefrontal cortex | Val/Val Val/Met ↓ anterior cingulate cortex grey matter density |
| Crespo-Facorro et al. (83) | 75 | Schizophrenia, schizophreniform disorder, schizoaffective disorder, psychosis NOS, brief reactive psychosis | — | Automated (1.5 T) | Global and lobar volumes of grey matter and CSF | Met/Met Val/Met ↑ lateral ventricles, right lateral ventricle and left lateral ventricle |
| Zinkstok et al. (84) | — | 154 | Automated VBM (1.5 T) | Total and regional grey matter and white matter density | No association between COMT and grey or white matter volumes and densities | |
| Ohnishi et al. (11) | 47 | Schizophrenia | 76 | Automated TBM/whole brain and ROI (1.5 T) | Whole brain morphology, DLPFC | Controls: no association between COMT and any brain structure Patients: Val/Val ↓ left amygdala-uncus, bilateral anterior cingulate cortex, right middle temporal gyrus, left thalamus; no association between COMT and DLPFC |
| Ho et al. (56) | 100 | Schizophrenia | 49 | Automated (1.5 T) | Frontal lobe grey matter, white matter and CSF volumes | Controls: no association between COMT and frontal lobe morphology Patients: no association between COMT and frontal lobe volume |
COMT = catechol-O-methyltransferase; CSF = cerebrospinal fluid; DLPFC = dorsolateral prefrontal cortex; MRI = magnetic resonance imaging; NOS = not otherwise specified; ROI = region of interest; TBM = tensor-based morphometry; VBM = voxel-based morphometry.