Polymorphism in the Tyrosine Hydroxylase (TH) Gene Is Associated with Activity-Impulsivity in German Shepherd Dogs

We investigated the association between repeat polymorphism in intron 4 of the tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) gene and two personality traits, activity-impulsivity and inattention, in German Shepherd Dogs. The behaviour of 104 dogs was characterized by two instruments: (1) the previously validated Dog-Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder Rating Scale (Dog-ADHD RS) filled in by the dog owners and (2) the newly developed Activity-impulsivity Behavioural Scale (AIBS) containing four subtests, scored by the experimenters. Internal consistency, inter-observer reliability, test-retest reliability and convergent validity were demonstrated for AIBS. Dogs possessing at least one short allele were proved to be more active-impulsive by both instruments, compared to dogs carrying two copies of the long allele (activity-impulsivity scale of Dog-ADHD RS: p = 0.007; AIBS: p = 0.023). The results have some potential to support human studies; however, further research should reveal the molecular function of the TH gene variants, and look for the effect in more breeds.

• Publication year

  2012

• Venue

  PLoS ONE

• Publication date

  2012-01-17

• Fields of study

  Biology, Medicine, Psychology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1371/journal.pone.0030271PMID 22272320PMCID 3260259
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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