Polymorphisms in genes coding for the serotonin receptor subtype 1A (HTR1A), the serotonin transporter (SLC6A4), and the serotonin degrading enzyme monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) are associated with anxiety, impulsivity, and neurotic personality in humans.
Monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) plays an important role in various functions of the brain, such as regulation of mood, anxiety and aggression, and dysregulation of MAO-A is observed in stress-related psychiatric disorders.
Perseveration in a spatial-discrimination serial reversal learning task is differentially affected by MAO-A and MAO-B inhibition and associated with reduced anxiety and peripheral serotonin levels.
Burned mice showed "delayed" depressive-like behavior combined with a degree of anxiety; this phenomenon is likely associated with the increase in MAOA expression in the hippocampus.
The study did not demonstrate the relationship between the 5-HTT and MAO-A gene polymorphisms, and the severity of anxiety and mood disorders in healthy late-reproductive-stage women.
Our findings support a possible association, depending on gender, between the MAOA-uVNTR polymorphism and psychopathological disorders such as anxiety, which affects high rates of children and adolescents.
Furthermore, the analysis of the 30-bp VNTR polymorphism in the MAO A promoter region demonstrated slight differences in anxiety levels between the women, indicating that those with a 4/4 genotype had higher severity of anxiety symptoms.
In boys, low-activity monoamine oxidase A gene was associated with increases in child anxiety and depression in interaction with caretaker depression, hostility, family conflict, and family stress.
The current study aimed to determine whether maternal symptoms of depression or anxiety were associated with decreased placental expression of monoamine oxidase A (MAO A), the enzyme which metabolises 5-HT into 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid.
Therefore, the aim of this study was to examine gene-by-environment interactions of the genes coding for catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) and monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) with life events on measures related to anxiety.
Indeed, treating animals with MAO-A inhibitors or selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) normalized anxiety differences between wild-type and mutant animals.
Because fibromyalgia (FM) is often comorbid with anxiety, and monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) was reported to be associated with anxiety, we determine if there is MAOA gene polymorphism associated with FM patients.
Our findings further support the notion that allelic variation of MAOA activity contributes modestly to the balance of hyper- (impulsive-aggressive) and hyporeactive (anxious-depressive) traits.
A SERT gene genotype with no apparent individual effect on risk and known to be associated with anxiety is preferentially transmitted to children with AN (chi2 trend=9.457, 1 df, P=0.0021) and AN-R alone (chi2 trend=7.477, 1 df, P=0.0063) when the 'more active' MAOA gene variant is also transmitted.