To provide enhanced support for the role of DAT and striatal dopamine regulation in the development of PTSD, this study examined the impact of a haplotype defined by the C allele of rs27072 and the nine repeat allele of the 3'VNTR on PTSD diagnosis in young trauma-exposed children.
In the subsample of participants with available methylation data, a significant (p = 0.008) interaction was observed whereby 9R allele carriers showed an increased risk of lifetime PTSD only in conjunction with high methylation in the SLC6A3 promoter locus, controlling for the same covariates.
We examined the frequency of the substance P receptor (TACR1) 1354 G>C polymorphism in FMS.The dopamine transporter (DAT) SLC6A3 3' variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) polymorphism is associated with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), a condition with clinical and epidemiological overlap with FMS.
The specificity of this finding to the increased arousal symptoms of Criterion D suggests that dopamine and the DAT allele may contribute to one heritable path in a multifinality model of the development of PTSD.
Given previous findings of abnormal dopamine (DA) function in PTSD, and given the putative effect of dopamine neurotransmission in shaping the responses to stress in animals, this study examined the association of the dopamine transporter (DAT) SLC6A3 3' variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) polymorphism with PTSD.