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

焦虑障碍和影响记忆的精神障碍（包括精神分裂症）很常见，而且经常复发和严重。现有的治疗方法并不令人满意，很大程度上是因为人们对病情知之甚少。大脑的一部分，海马体，在记忆和焦虑以及这些疾病中起着关键作用。海马体的功能受到化学递质多巴胺的影响。儿茶酚-0-甲基转移酶（COMT）是一种有助于记忆和焦虑的基因，可能是因为它能分解多巴胺。然而，目前尚不清楚COMT在海马体中的作用。我们想要研究这个问题，因为我们预测它有助于多巴胺在海马体中的作用，以及它在上述精神疾病中的功能障碍。同时，阻断COMT的药物正在作为这些疾病的治疗方法进行测试，因此我们的研究将有助于展示它们对大脑的影响，从而有助于开发更有效、更安全的此类药物。

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.