Effects of L-Tyrosine on working memory and inhibitory control are determined by DRD2 genotypes: A randomized controlled trial

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

Abstract

L-Tyrosine (TYR), the precursor of dopamine (DA), has been shown to enhance facets of cognitive control in situations with high cognitive demands. However some previous outcomes were mixed: some studies reported significant improvements, while other did not. Given that TYR increases DA level in the brain, we investigated, in a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled design, whether the C957T genotypes of a functional synonymous polymorphism in the human dopamine D2 receptor (DRD2) gene (rs6277) contribute to individual differences in the reactivity to TYR administration and whether this factor predicts the magnitude of TYR-induced performance differences on inhibiting behavioral responses in a stop-signal task and working memory (WM) updating in a N-back task. Our findings show that T/T homozygotes (i.e., individuals potentially associated with lower striatal DA level) showed larger beneficial effects of TYR supplementation than C/C homozygotes (i.e., individuals potentially associated with higher striatal DA level), suggesting that genetically determined differences in DA function may explain inter-individual differences in response to TYR supplementation. These findings reinforce the idea that genetic predisposition modulates the effect of TYR in its role as cognitive enhancer.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)217-224
Number of pages8
JournalCortex
Volume82
Publication statusPublished - 1 Sept 2016
Peer-reviewedYes

External IDs

PubMed 27403851
ORCID /0000-0002-2989-9561/work/160952510

Keywords

Keywords

  • Dopamine, DRD2, Individual differences, Tyrosine, Working memory