查看文章

Catechol O-methyltransferase (COMT) is involved in the inactivation of catecholamines, including the neurotransmitter dopamine. A Val^108/158 Met functional polymorphism of the COMT gene has been shown to affect working memory-associated frontal lobe function in humans. In the present study, in situ hybridization histochemistry was employed to determine the mRNA expression profile of COMT in the human prefrontal cortex, striatum and midbrain and in the rat forebrain. In both species, COMT mRNA signals were observed in large pyramidal and smaller neurons in all cortical layers of the prefrontal cortex as well as in medium and large neurons in the striatum. Levels of COMT mRNA were obviously higher in neurons than in glia. The striatum, which receives a dense dopaminergic input, expressed lower levels of COMT mRNA as compared with the prefrontal cortex. Consistent with previous protein …