Linkage and linkage disequilibrium of evoked EEG oscillations with CHRM2 receptor gene polymorphisms: implications for human brain dynamics and cognition

• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpsycho.2004.02.004
• Publication Date: 2004-06-22T14:23:17Z
• Authors: Kevin A. Jones; Bernice Porjesz; Laura Almasy; Laura Bierut; Alison Goate; Jen C. Wang; Danielle M. Dick; Anthony Hinrichs; Jennifer Kwon; John P. Rice; John Rohrbaugh; Heather Stock; William Wu; Lance O. Bauer; David B. Chorlian; Raymond R. Crowe; Howard J. Edenberg; Tatiana Foroud; Victor Hesselbrock; Samuel Kuperman; John Nurnberger Jr; Sean J. O'Connor; Marc A. Schuckit; Arthur T. Stimus; Jay A. Tischfield; Theodore Reich; Henri Begleiter
• Keywords: Adult; Receptor, Muscarinic M2; Adolescent; Genetic Linkage; Brain; Electroencephalography; Middle Aged; Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; Linkage Disequilibrium; Frontal Lobe; Alcoholism; 03 medical and health sciences; Cognition; 0302 clinical medicine; Delta Rhythm; Oscillometry; Parietal Lobe; Evoked Potentials, Visual; Humans; Theta Rhythm; Chromosomes, Human, Pair 7; Aged

Event-related oscillations (ERO) offer an alternative theoretical and methodological approach to the analysis of event-related EEG responses. The P300 event-related potential (ERP) is elicited through the superposition of the delta (1-3 Hz) and theta (3-7 Hz) band oscillatory responses. The cholinergic neurotransmitter system has a key function in modulating excitatory post-synaptic potentials caused by glutamate, and therefore influences P300 generation and the underlying oscillatory responses. Here we report significant linkage and linkage disequilibrium between target case frontal theta band, visual evoked brain oscillations and a single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) from the cholinergic muscarinic receptor gene (CHRM2) on chromosome 7. We also demonstrate significant linkage disequilibrium between CHRM2 SNPs and target case parietal delta band visual evoked oscillations (LD P<0.001). These findings were not observed for the equivalent non-target case data, suggesting a role for the CHRM2 gene in higher cognitive processing in humans.