Plasma homovanillic acid correlates inversely with history of childhood trauma in personality disordered and healthy control adults

Studies of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) level of the dopamine metabolite, homovanillic acid (HVA), suggest a relationship between CSF HVA concentration and history of childhood trauma. In this study, the authors test the hypothesis that this relationship is also present using peripheral levels of HVA in healthy volunteers and in personality disordered subjects. 68 personality disordered (PD) and healthy control (HC) subjects were chosen, in whom morning basal plasma HVA (pHVA) concentrations and an assessment of childhood trauma were obtained. History of childhood trauma was assessed using the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ). A significant inverse correlation was found between CTQ Total scores and pHVA concentration across all subjects. In addition, pHVA was lower, and CTQ scores were higher, in PD as compared with HC subjects. Correlations with other personality and behavioral measures were not statistically significant. The data suggest that pHVA concentrations are inversely correlated with history of childhood trauma and that variability in this index of dopamine function may be affected by the history of childhood trauma in healthy and personality disordered subjects.