Background: It has been suggested that the dopaminergic system is involved in the pathophysiology of mood disorders. We conducted a multicenter study of families with mood disorders, to investigate a possible linkage with genes coding for dopamine receptor D2, dopamine receptor D3 and tyrosine hydroxylase (TH).
Methods: Twenty three mood disorder pedigrees collected within the framework of the European Collaborative Project on Affective Disorders were analyzed with parametric and non-parametric linkage methods. Various potential phenotypes were considered, from a narrow (only bipolar as affected) to a broad (bipolar+major depressive+schizoaffective disorders) definition of affection status.
Results: Parametric analyses excluded linkage for all the candidate genes, even though small positive LOD (Limit of Detection) scores were observed for TH in three families. Non-parametric analyses yielded negative results for all markers.
Conclusion: The D2 and D3 dopamine receptors were, therefore, not a major liability factor for mood disorders in our sample, whereas TH may play a role in a subgroup of patients.