The role of catechol-o-methyltransferase (COMT) in hippocampal function

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Anxiety disorders and psychiatric disorders affecting memory (including schizophrenia) are common, and often recurrent and severe. Existing treatments are unsatisfactory, largely because the conditions are poorly understood. A part of the brain, the hippocampus, is critically involved in memory and anxiety, and in these disorders. Hippocampal function is influenced by the chemical tranmsitter, dopamine. Catechol-0-methyl transferase (COMT) is a gene that contributes to memory and anxiety, probably because it breaks down dopamine. However, it is not known what COMT does in the hippocampus. We want to investigate this question, as we predict that it contributes to dopamine s actions in the hippocampus, and to its malfunction in the psychiatric disorders mentioned. Also, drugs that block COMT are being tested as treatments for these disorders, and so our research will help in showing their effects on the brain, and so aid the development of more effective and safer drugs of this kind.