Background: During military deployment, stress regulation is vital to protect against the development of anxiety and trauma-related symptoms. Brain endocannabinoids play an important role in stress regulation and previous research has shown that genetic variations in the FAAH rs324420 polymorphism demonstrate protective effects during stress. In addition, this polymorphism shows interactions with the CRHR1 and CNR1 polymorphisms on anxiety. The present study examines whether genetic variations of the FAAH, CRHR1 and CNR1 polymorphisms interact with the development of anxiety and trauma related symptoms in military veterans.

Methods: Veterans (N = 949) who went on military deployment and experienced a stressful event were genotyped for FAAH rs324420, CRHR1 rs110402 and CNR1 rs2180619. Anxiety and trauma symptoms were measured pre-deployment and 6 months after deployment. Anxiety was measured with the anxiety subscale of the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) and trauma with the Self-Rating Inventory for PTSD (SRIP).

Results: Covariance Pattern Models demonstrated no significant relation of genetic variations in FAAH rs324420 on anxiety and PTSD symptoms from pre-deployment to 6 months after military deployment. Additionally, we investigated interactions between the FAAH s324420, CRHR1 rs110402 and CNR1 rs2180619 polymorphisms. This also demonstrated no significant effects on anxiety and PTSD symptoms pre- to post deployment. However, the covariate of childhood trauma that was included in the models was significant in all these models.

Conclusion: Genetic variations in FAAH rs324420 and its interactions with CRHR1 rs110402 and CNR1 rs2180619 are not related to the development of anxiety and trauma-related symptoms. The study however, indicates the importance of considering childhood trauma in the investigation of the effects of polymorphisms that are related to the endocannabinoid system on the development of anxiety and PTSD symptoms.

Keywords: FAAH; PTSD; anxiety; cannabinoid; rs324420; trauma.

© The Author(s) 2024.

背景： 在军事部署期间，压力调节对于防止焦虑和创伤相关症状的发展至关重要。脑内源性大麻素在压力调节中扮演重要角色，并且先前的研究表明，FAAH rs324420多态性的基因变异具有保护作用，在应对压力时表现出积极效果。此外，这种多态性与CRHR1和CNR1多态性之间的相互作用也对焦虑症状产生影响。本研究旨在探讨军事退伍军人中FAAH、CRHR1和CNR1多态性基因变异是否与其焦虑及创伤相关症状的发展存在交互关系。

方法： 对经历了压力事件并参加过军事部署的退伍军人（N = 949）进行了FAAH rs324420、CRHR1 rs110402和CNR1 rs2180619基因型检测。在部署前和部署后六个月分别测量了焦虑及创伤症状。使用SCL-90的焦虑子量表来衡量焦虑，用PTSD自评量表（SRIP）评估创伤。

结果： 协方差模式模型表明，在从军事部署前到六个月后的过程中，FAAH rs324420基因变异对焦虑和PTSD症状没有显著关系。此外，我们还研究了FAAH s324420、CRHR1 rs110402和CNR1 rs2180619多态性之间的相互作用。这些模型也没有表现出在部署前后对于焦虑及PTSD症状的显著影响。然而，在这些模型中包含的童年创伤协变量在整个研究过程中均显示出了显著意义。

结论： FAAH rs324420基因变异及其与CRHR1 rs110402和CNR1 rs2180619多态性的相互作用，与焦虑及创伤相关症状的发展无关。然而，这项研究强调了在评估与内源性大麻素系统相关的多态效应对焦虑症和PTSD症状发展的影响时考虑童年创伤的重要性。

关键词： FAAH；PTSD；焦虑；大麻素；rs324420；创伤。