Evidence That Brain MAO A Activity Does Not Correspond to MAO A Genotype in Healthy Male Subjects

BACKGROUND A functional polymorphism in the promoter region of the monoamine oxidase A (MAO A) gene has two common alleles that are referred to as the high and low MAO A genotypes. We report the first in vivo human study to determine whether there is an association between MAO A genotype and brain MAO A activity in healthy male subjects. METHODS Brain MAO A activity was measured with positron emission tomography and [(11)C]clorgyline in 38 healthy adult male nonsmokers genotyped for MAO A polymorphism. RESULTS There was no significant difference in brain MAO A activity between the high (n = 26) and low (n = 12) MAO A genotypes. CONCLUSIONS The lack of an association between the high and low MAO A genotype and brain MAO A activity suggests that this polymorphism by itself does not contribute to differences in brain MAO A activity in healthy adult male subjects.

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