Studies of the 5-HTTLPR Serotonin Transporter Polymorphism (literature review)

Polymorphism of the 5-HTTLPR serotonin transporter gene is one of the best studied markers of the serotoninergic system. Scientific interest in investigating 5-HTTLPR polymorphism arises because many studies have demonstrated an association between the short allele (S) and the development of a number of mental disorders. Several studies have shown that different 5-HTTLPR alleles are associated with different patterns of brain bioelectrical activity in the resting state and on performance of test tasks. However, despite a quite large number of studies of this marker, the results often contradict each other. Possible causes of disagreement between results may be that the complex structure of the SLC6A4 gene is ignored, heterogeneity in cohorts, and the use of different methods. The aim of the present work was to conduct a literature review and use this to carry out a complex analysis of psychological, behavioral, genetic, and neurophysiological data to summarize the effects associated with 5-HTTLPR polymorphism and at least partly to explain the variability in the results obtained by different authors. © 2022, Springer Nature Switzerland AG.