Association Between Childhood Abuse, Polymorphism Of Dopamine-β-hydroxylase Gene And Executive Function In Adolescents With Violent Behavior

Objective1. To study the executive function and childhood abuse in adolescentswith violent behavior, and then analyze the influence of childhood abuseexperience on executive function.2. To explore the relationship between the rs1611115and rs739398polymorphism of dopamine-β-hydroxylase genes and violent behavior,executive function in adolescents with violent behavior.Methods1. Adolescent offenders were divided into violent group (107samples)and nonviolent group (107samples). Besides,107male adolescents invocational school were served as normal controls. All the participants weresubjected to the general situation (age, sex, nationality, family structure,family economic, etc), Childhood Trauma Questionnaire-28item Short Form (CTQ-SF), the Wechsler adult intelligence scale short form (WAIS-S),Intra/Extra dimensional Set Shift (IED), Stockings of Cambridge (SoC) andSpatial Working Memory (SWM) in Cambridge Neuropsychological TestAutomated Battery (CANTAB). The data will be analyzed by usedchi-square test and analysis of variance, observed the years of education,IQ and childhood abused to the influence on the executive function by usedcovariance analysis.2. The rs1611115and rs739398polymorphisms of DBH gene weremeasured by used SNaPshot SNP technology in321samples. Chi-squaretest was used to compare the distribution difference between three groupsof each gene type and the allele frequency distribution, and analyzed therelationship between and executive function.Results1. Violent and nonviolent groups in the emotional abuse, physicalabuse, physical neglect and total score were significant more than normalcontrol group (P<0.05); the physical abuse and total score of violent groupwas still more than the non-violent group (P<0.05). Violent group wassignificant more than nonviolent group and normal control group in theemotional neglect (P<0.05). There was no significant difference in sexualabuse among three groups (P>0.05).2. Three groups demonstrated significant differences in14cognitiveindicators in three executive function subtests (P<0.05～0.01). Violent group was significantly more than nonviolent group and normal controlgroup in Pre-ED errors, total errors, and fewer than nonviolent group andnormal control group in stages completed(all P<0.05), while there was nosignificant difference between nonviolent group and normal control groupon the IED test(P>0.05). Violent group was significantly more than normalcontrol group in Problems solved in minimum moves, mean moves(3-move)and mean moves(5-move)(all P<0.05), while nonviolent group was nosignificant with violent group and normal control group(all P>0.05). Therewas no significant difference in mean initial thinking time(4-move) andmean initial thinking time(5-move) between violent group and nonviolentgroup(all P>0.05), but those in both groups were significant shorter thannormal control group on the SOC test (all P<0.05). In SWM, Violent groupwas significantly more than nonviolent group in total between errors, andmore than normal control group in between errors(6-box), both violentgroup and nonviolent group were significant more than normal controlgroup in total within errors (all P<0.05), but There was no significantdifference between violent group and nonviolent group (P>0.05). Thewithin errors (6-box) of violent group and the within errors (4-box) ofnonviolent group were significant more than normal control group (allP<0.05). Violent group have more total errors and higher strategy scorethan normal control group on the SWM test (all P<0.05).3. After controlled the year of education, there were no statistically significant differences in IED total error, SWM within errors and strategy(all P>0.05). The Problems solved in minimum moves in SOC and strategy,within errors in SWM demonstrated no significant differences aftercontrolled the verbal IQ in three groups (all P>0.05), and there was nostatistically significant difference in Problems solved in minimum movesand within errors (P>0.05), After respectively controlled emotional abuse,physical abuse, emotional neglect and total score, there was no statisticallysignificant difference in SWM within errors (P>0.05). After respectivelycontrolled emotional abuse, emotional neglect, physical neglect and totalscore, there was no statistically significant difference in SWM strategyscores (P>0.05). But other cognitive indicators had no statisticallysignificant changes.4. There was statistically significant difference among violent group,nonviolent group and normal control group in the genotype and allelefrequencies of DBH gene rs1611115polymorphism (P<0.05), but therewas no statistically significant difference between violent group andnonviolent group (P>0.05). There was no statistically significant differenceamong violent group, nonviolent group and normal control group in thegenotype and allele frequencies of rs739398polymorphism (P>0.05).5. There was statistically significant difference between genotype C/Cand C/T of rs1611115polymorphism and genotype A/A and C/A ofrs739398polymorphism on IED EDS errors in violent group (P<0.05). The rs1611115polymorphism was associated with IED EDS errors, total errorsand stages completed in nonviolent group, there was statistically significantdifference between genotype C/C and C/T of rs1611115polymorphism innonviolent group(P<0.05). There was statistically significant differencebetween genotype A/A and C/A of rs739398polymorphism in Pre-EDerrors and problems solved in minimum moves in nonviolent group.Conclusion1. Both violent group and nonviolent group adolescents experiencedmore childhood abuse than normal control, and violent adolescents weremore than nonviolent adolescents.2. Adolescents with violent behavior show executive function deficits,childhood abuse influenced on spatial working memory of violentadolescents.3. No association was found between the rs739398polymorphism ofDBH gene and adolescents with violent behavior. But the rs1611115polymorphism of DBH gene was related to adolescent criminals withviolent and nonviolent behavior.4. DBH polymorphism may be related to Intra/Extradimensional SetShift of executive function.