Habit learning and the genetics of the dopamine D3 receptor: evidence from patients with schizophrenia and healthy controls.

Abstract

In this study, the authors investigated the relationship between the Ser9Gly (SG) polymorphism of the dopamine D3 receptor (DRD3) and striatal habit learning in healthy controls and patients with schizophrenia. Participants were given the weather prediction task, during which probabilistic cue-response associations were learned for tarot cards and weather outcomes (rain or sunshine). In both healthy controls and patients with schizophrenia, participants with Ser9Ser (SS) genotype did not learn during the early phase of the task (1-50 trials), whereas participants with SG genotype did so. During the late phase of the task (51-100 trials), both participants with SS and SG genotype exhibited significant learning. Learning rate was normal in patients with schizophrenia. These results suggest that the DRD3 variant containing glycine is associated with more efficient striatal habit learning in healthy controls and patients with schizophrenia.

• Authors: Szabolcs Kéri, Anna Juhász, Agnes Rimanóczy, György Szekeres, Oguz Kelemen, Csongor Cimmer, István Szendi, György Benedek, Zoltán Janka
• Journal: Behavioral neuroscience (Behav Neurosci) Vol. 119 Issue 3 Pg. 687-93 (Jun 2005) ISSN: 0735-7044 [Print] United States
• PMID: 15998189 (Publication Type: Comparative Study, Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't)
• Copyright: (c) 2005 APA, all rights reserved.

Chemical References

• DRD3 protein, human
• RNA, Messenger
• Receptors, Dopamine D2
• Receptors, Dopamine D3
• Serine
• Glycine

Topics

• Adult
• Analysis of Variance
• Cues
• DNA Mutational Analysis (methods)
• Female
• Glycine (genetics)
• Habits
• Humans
• Learning (physiology)
• Male
• Middle Aged
• Neuropsychological Tests (statistics & numerical data)
• Polymorphism, Genetic
• Predictive Value of Tests
• Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
• RNA, Messenger (biosynthesis)
• Receptors, Dopamine D2 (genetics)
• Receptors, Dopamine D3
• Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction (methods)
• Schizophrenia (genetics)
• Schizophrenic Psychology
• Serine (genetics)
• Task Performance and Analysis