Association of a functional BDNF polymorphism and anxiety-related personality traits.
BACKGROUND
Converging lines of evidence point to brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) as a factor in the pathophysiology of depression. Recently, it was shown that the Val allele of the BDNF Val66Met substitution polymorphism showed a significant association with higher mean neuroticism scores of the NEO-Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) in healthy subjects, and previous studies suggested the Val allele to be increased in bipolar disorder families. The association to anxiety-related traits has not been investigated so far.


METHODS
We tested a total of 343 unrelated subjects of German descent (171 male, 172 female, age: 39.0+/-14.6 years) who were carefully screened for psychiatric health. The self-ratable State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), which allows anxiety to be quantified as a comparatively stable personality trait, and the NEO-Five Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) was applied.


RESULTS
In the trait-related anxiety score, a significant (F=3.2, df=2, p<0.042) effect of the genotype was observed with higher levels of trait anxiety in Val/Val (35.0+/-7.4) compared to Val/Met (33.4+/-6.5) and Met/Met (32.0+/-4.6) genotypes. The NEO neuroticism scores were also higher in Val/Val (29.5+/-7.0) than in Val/Met (28.4+/-6.5) or Met/Met (26.8+/-5.8) genotype, but not at a significant rate.


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings support the hypothesis that anxiety- and depression-related personality traits are associated with the BDNF polymorphism although the explained variance is low.
Lang
Undine E
UE
Department of Neurology, University of Tuebingen, Hoppe-Seyler-Str. 3, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany.
Hellweg
Rainer
R
Kalus
Peter
P
Bajbouj
Malek
M
Lenzen
Kirsten P
KP
Sander
Thomas
T
Kunz
Dieter
D
Gallinat
Jürgen
J
D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000235:genetics*; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010551:Personality / Q000235:genetics*; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D044465:White People
D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor