title: Association between angiotensin I-converting enzyme insertion/deletion gene functional polymorphism and novelty seeking personality in healthy females.
abstract: A certain type of personality is at risk for developing psychiatric diseases. Several lines of evidence support the interaction between brain angiotensins and central catecholamine systems, and suggest that angiotensin I-converting enzyme (ACE) may be a reasonable candidate gene for psychiatric disorders. The present study examined the possibility that ACE insertion (I)/deletion (D) functional polymorphism might be associated with particular personality traits. Healthy Japanese subjects (N=184) were administered the Temperament and Character Inventory (TCI) and the NEO Personality Inventory Revised version (NEO-PI-R), and their ACE I/D polymorphisms were determined. There was an ethnic difference in the genetic distribution of ACE I/D between Japanese (D=34.5%) and Caucasians (D=55.2%). We found that the scores of novelty seeking (NS) in the Low-ACE group (II genotype) of healthy female subjects were significantly lower than those in the High-ACE group (ID or DD genotype) (p=0.018). Our findings suggested that the ACE I/D polymorphism might be associated with the NS personality trait in females, but not males. Taking into account the effects of multiple comparisons, this result should be interpreted with caution, and needs confirmation in a larger sample.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry (K2), Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-8-1 Inohana, Chuou-ku, Chiba 260-8670, Japan. eiji@faculty.chiba-u.jp
authors.forename: Eiji
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Shimizu
authors.forename: Kenji
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hashimoto
authors.forename: Shintaro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ohgake
authors.forename: Hiroki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Koizumi
authors.forename: Naoe
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Okamura
authors.forename: Kaori
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Koike
authors.forename: Mihisa
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fujisaki
authors.forename: Masaomi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Iyo
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000483:Alleles; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D004252:DNA Mutational Analysis; D005106:Exploratory Behavior; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016254:Mutagenesis, Insertional; D007703:Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A / Q000235:genetics*; D010551:Personality / Q000235:genetics*; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011110:Polymorphism, Genetic; D012727:Sex Characteristics
chemical_list: D007703:Peptidyl-Dipeptidase A