MONDAY, March 12 (HealthDay News) -- Variations in the serotonin receptor 2C gene are associated with hostility and aggression in women, according to research presented at the 65th Annual Scientific Conference of the American Psychosomatic Society in Budapest, Hungary.
Indrani Halder, Ph.D., of the Cardiovascular Behavioral Medicine Program at the University of Pittsburgh, and colleagues examined the connection between two polymorphisms in the promoter region of the serotonin receptor 2C gene -- -995(G/C) and -697(A/G) -- and levels of hostility and aggression in 550 healthy women.
The researchers found that both polymorphisms were associated with hostility and aggression, with omnibus F-ratios of 2.41 for -995(G/C) and 2.004 for -697(A/G). They also found that carriers of the -995(G/C) genotype, but not carriers of the -697(A/G) genotype, scored significantly higher on a test of physical aggression (omnibus F-ratio, 3.572).
"Aggression and hostility are predictors of hypertension, glucose metabolism and heart diseases," Halder said in a statement. "The genetic marker we found for hostility also may be useful for predicting a person's predisposition to such diseases."
Abstract #1853 (P. 110)
