Joachim Hallmayer

Publication Details

• HPA axis reactivity: a mechanism underlying the associations among 5-HTTLPR, stress, and depression.

  Gotlib IH, Joormann J, Minor KL, Hallmayer J. Biol Psychiatry. 2008; 63 (9): 847-51

  Recent evidence indicates that individuals who are homozygous for the short (s) allele in the promoter region of the serotonin transporter gene have higher rates of depression and other psychiatric disorders as a function of exposure to increasing levels of stressful life events than do individuals who have one or two copies of the long (l) allele. Despite the reliability of this association, the mechanism by which this polymorphism confers risk for psychopathology in the presence of stress is not understood. This study was designed to examine the formulation that individuals who are homozygous for the s allele are characterized by a greater biological reactivity to stress than are their counterparts who have one or two copies of the l allele.

  PubMedID: 18005940