No association of the Val66Met polymorphism of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor with hippocampal volume in major depression.
Recently, an association of the Val66Met polymorphism of the brain-derived neurotrophic factor with hippocampal volume in patients with major depression has been reported. Here, we aimed at replicating this finding in an independent German sample. We included 79 patients with unipolar major depressive episodes and 84 healthy comparison participants. The brain-derived neurotrophic factor Val66Met polymorphism was determined in all participants. The volume of the hippocampus was manually traced on high-resolution magnetic resonance images. The hippocampal volumes of patients were significantly smaller than those of the comparison participants, confirming previous reports. There was, however, no Val66Met effect on hippocampal volume in either group. To conclude, we did not replicate the Val66Met effect on hippocampal volume in neither patients with major depression nor in healthy participants.
Jessen
Frank
F
Departments of aPsychiatry bRadiology, University of Bonn, Germany. Jessen@uni-bonn.de
Schuhmacher
Anna
A
von Widdern
Ole
O
Guttenthaler
Vera
V
Hofels
Susanne
S
Suliman
Husam
H
Scheef
Lukas
L
Block
Wolfgang
W
Urbach
Horst
H
Maier
Wolfgang
W
Zobel
Astrid
A
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D019943:Amino Acid Substitution / Q000235:genetics*; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000235:genetics*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008715:Methionine / Q000235:genetics; D008875:Middle Aged; D009929:Organ Size; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics*; D014633:Valine / Q000235:genetics; D055815:Young Adult
D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D008715:Methionine; D014633:Valine