The serotonin receptor HTR1B: gene polymorphisms in attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

Serotonin plays an essential role in cognition, locomotor activity, and the regulation of sleep, pain, mood, and aggression. Polymorphisms of the HTR1B gene have been implicated in a variety of psychiatric disorders including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The objectives of this study were to: (i) expand our original investigation of the relationship between the HTR1B receptor gene and attention deficit/hyperactivity and; (ii) to investigate a possible association of obsessive behaviors/perfectionism and the HTR1B gene in a sample of 203 families with an ADHD proband. Six single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) of the HTR1B receptor gene were genotyped using standard methods. Evidence for an association between the HTR1B gene and ADHD as a qualitative diagnosis, or the inattentive and hyperactive-impulsive quantitative traits was not supported by either TDT single marker analysis or haplotype analysis. In addition we did not find evidence to suggest an association between HTR1B and perfectionism in this sample of ADHD families.