Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Brief Communication
  • Published:

A functional genetic variation of the 5-HT2a receptor affects human memory

Nature Neuroscience volume 6, pages 1141–1142 (2003)Cite this article

Abstract

Human memory capacity is highly variable across individuals and is influenced by both genetic and environmental factors. A roughly 50% heritability estimate1 indicates that naturally occurring genetic variations have an important impact on this cognitive ability. Therefore, we investigated a functional variation of a memory-related serotonin receptor in 349 healthy young volunteers, and found 21% poorer memory performance in subjects with the rare variant.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Effect of the 5-HT2a H452Y genotype on verbal memory in young healthy human subjects.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. McClearn, G.E. et al. Science 276, 1560–1563 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Buhot, M.C. Curr. Opin. Neurobiol. 7, 243–254 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Sheline, Y.I., Mintun, M.A., Moerlein, S.M. & Snyder, A.Z. Am. J. Psychiatry 159, 430–435 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Squire, L.R. & Alvarez, P. Curr. Opin. Neurobiol. 5, 169–177 (1995).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Meneses, A. Cell. Mol. Neurobiol. 22, 675–688 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Ozaki, N. et al. Biol. Psychiatry 40, 1267–1272 (1996).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Ozaki, N. et al. J. Neurochem. 68, 2186–2193 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Gothert, M., Propping, P., Bonisch, H., Bruss, M. & Nothen, M.M. Ann. NY Acad. Sci. 861, 26–30 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Kandel, E.R. Science 294, 1030–1038 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Rey, A. L'examen Clinique en Psychologie (Presses Universitaires de France, Paris, 1958).

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the Swiss National Science Foundation (3232-058420.99 to D.Q., and 32-068859, PP00B-68859/1 to A.P.), by the Hartmann-Müller-Stiftung (D.Q.) and by the National Center for Competence in Research (NCCR) “Neuronal Plasticity and Repair”.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Psychiatry Research, University of Zürich, Lenggstr. 31, Zürich, 8029, Switzerland

    Dominique J-F de Quervain, Katharina Henke, Amanda Aerni, Daniel Coluccia, M Axel Wollmer, Christoph Hock, Roger M Nitsch & Andreas Papassotiropoulos

Authors
  1. Dominique J-F de Quervain
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Katharina Henke
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Amanda Aerni
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Daniel Coluccia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. M Axel Wollmer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Christoph Hock
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Roger M Nitsch
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Andreas Papassotiropoulos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Dominique J-F de Quervain or Andreas Papassotiropoulos.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

de Quervain, DF., Henke, K., Aerni, A. et al. A functional genetic variation of the 5-HT2a receptor affects human memory. Nat Neurosci 6, 1141–1142 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1146

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1146

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing