Monoamines have an important role in neural plasticity, a key factor in cortical pain processing that promotes changes in neuronal network connectivity. Monoamine oxidase type A (MAOA) is an enzyme that, due to its modulating role in monoaminergic activity, could play a role in cortical pain processing. The X-linked MAOA gene is characterized by an allelic variant of length, the MAOA upstream Variable Number Tandem Repeat (MAOA-uVNTR) region polymorphism. Two allelic variants of this gene are known, the high-activity MAOA (HAM) and low-activity MAOA (LAM). We investigated the role of MAOA-uVNTR in cortical pain processing in a group of healthy individuals measured by the trigeminal electric pain-related evoked potential (tPREP) elicited by repeated painful stimulation. A group of healthy volunteers was genotyped to detect MAOA-uVNTR polymorphism. Electrical tPREPs were recorded by stimulating the right supraorbital nerve with a concentric electrode. The N2 and P2 component amplitude and latency as well as the N2-P2 inter-peak amplitude were measured. The recording was divided into three blocks, each containing 10 consecutive stimuli and the N2-P2 amplitude was compared between blocks. Of the 67 volunteers, 37 were HAM and 30 were LAM. HAM subjects differed from LAM subjects in terms of amplitude of the grand-averaged and first-block N2-P2 responses (HAM>LAM). The N2-P2 amplitude decreased between the first and third block in HAM subjects but not LAM subjects. The MAOA-uVNTR polymorphism seemed to influence the brain response in a repeated tPREP paradigm and suggested a role of the MAOA as a modulator of neural plasticity related to cortical pain processing.

The upstream Variable Number Tandem Repeat polymorphism of the monoamine oxidase type A gene influences trigeminal pain-related evoked responses / DI LORENZO, Cherubino; Andrea, Daverio; Pasqualetti, Patrizio; Coppola, Gianluca; Ioannis, Giannoudas; Barone, Ylenia; Grieco, Gaetano S.; Cinzia, Niolu; Pascale, Esterina; Filippo Maria Santorelli, ; Nicoletti, Ferdinando; Pierelli, Francesco; Alberto, Siracusano; Stefano, Seri; Giorgio Di Lorenzo,. - In: EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE. - ISSN 0953-816X. - 39:3(2014), pp. 501-507. [10.1111/ejn.12458]

The upstream Variable Number Tandem Repeat polymorphism of the monoamine oxidase type A gene influences trigeminal pain-related evoked responses

DI LORENZO, CHERUBINO;Patrizio Pasqualetti;COPPOLA, GIANLUCA;BARONE, YLENIA;PASCALE, ESTERINA;NICOLETTI, Ferdinando;PIERELLI, Francesco;
2014

Abstract

Monoamines have an important role in neural plasticity, a key factor in cortical pain processing that promotes changes in neuronal network connectivity. Monoamine oxidase type A (MAOA) is an enzyme that, due to its modulating role in monoaminergic activity, could play a role in cortical pain processing. The X-linked MAOA gene is characterized by an allelic variant of length, the MAOA upstream Variable Number Tandem Repeat (MAOA-uVNTR) region polymorphism. Two allelic variants of this gene are known, the high-activity MAOA (HAM) and low-activity MAOA (LAM). We investigated the role of MAOA-uVNTR in cortical pain processing in a group of healthy individuals measured by the trigeminal electric pain-related evoked potential (tPREP) elicited by repeated painful stimulation. A group of healthy volunteers was genotyped to detect MAOA-uVNTR polymorphism. Electrical tPREPs were recorded by stimulating the right supraorbital nerve with a concentric electrode. The N2 and P2 component amplitude and latency as well as the N2-P2 inter-peak amplitude were measured. The recording was divided into three blocks, each containing 10 consecutive stimuli and the N2-P2 amplitude was compared between blocks. Of the 67 volunteers, 37 were HAM and 30 were LAM. HAM subjects differed from LAM subjects in terms of amplitude of the grand-averaged and first-block N2-P2 responses (HAM>LAM). The N2-P2 amplitude decreased between the first and third block in HAM subjects but not LAM subjects. The MAOA-uVNTR polymorphism seemed to influence the brain response in a repeated tPREP paradigm and suggested a role of the MAOA as a modulator of neural plasticity related to cortical pain processing.
2014
habituation; sensitization; monoamine; pain-related evoked potential; neural plasticity; human
01 Pubblicazione su rivista::01a Articolo in rivista
The upstream Variable Number Tandem Repeat polymorphism of the monoamine oxidase type A gene influences trigeminal pain-related evoked responses / DI LORENZO, Cherubino; Andrea, Daverio; Pasqualetti, Patrizio; Coppola, Gianluca; Ioannis, Giannoudas; Barone, Ylenia; Grieco, Gaetano S.; Cinzia, Niolu; Pascale, Esterina; Filippo Maria Santorelli, ; Nicoletti, Ferdinando; Pierelli, Francesco; Alberto, Siracusano; Stefano, Seri; Giorgio Di Lorenzo,. - In: EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF NEUROSCIENCE. - ISSN 0953-816X. - 39:3(2014), pp. 501-507. [10.1111/ejn.12458]
File allegati a questo prodotto
Non ci sono file associati a questo prodotto.

I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11573/558491
 Attenzione

Attenzione! I dati visualizzati non sono stati sottoposti a validazione da parte dell'ateneo

Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? 6
  • Scopus 16
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 12
social impact