Am J Psychiatry 1984; 141:1049-1054
Copyright © 1984 by American Psychiatric Association
Amish study, V: Lithium-sodium countertransport and catechol O- methyltransferase in pedigrees of bipolar probands
JA Egeland, JR Kidd, A Frazer, KK Kidd and VI Neuhauser
The authors studied 87 individuals from four large Amish pedigrees to
determine the relationship between susceptibility to affective disorders
and variation in the measures of two biochemical variables, catechol
O-methyltransferase (COMT) and lithium countertransport. Assays were done
in duplicate and blind to diagnostic or pedigree status. Data were analyzed
separately within families as well as by pooling ill and well subjects
across pedigrees. Various statistical analyses yielded no significant
differences in lithium measures or COMT activity levels between members
diagnosed as having a form of affective disorder and the normal members.
