Association between affective temperaments and brain-derived neurotrophic factor, glycogen synthase kinase 3β and Wnt signaling pathway gene polymorphisms in healthy subjects.
BACKGROUND
There is increased attention towards elucidating genetic factors that underlie both psychiatric diseases as well as healthy psychological phenomena. Recent evidence suggests that temperamental traits, including affective temperaments, are heritable and associated with genetic polymorphisms. Genetic research examining affective temperaments using the Temperament Evaluation of the Memphis, Pisa, Paris, and San Diego Autoquestionnaire (TEMPS-A) may therefore elucidate the concept of a spectrum of mood disorders and the genetic relationship between affective temperaments and mood disorders. The purpose of this study was to examine the association between brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), glycogen synthase kinase 3β(GSK3β) and Wnt signaling pathway (Wnt) gene polymorphisms and affective temperaments in non-clinical Japanese subjects, as measured by TEMPS-A.


METHODS
44 healthy Japanese subjects were recruited through our university hospital and completed the TEMPS-A. We genotyped three SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms) from the BDNF, GSK3βand Wnt genes in order to test the relationship between these gene variants and five affective temperaments measured by the TEMPS-A.


RESULTS
No significant difference in the frequency of alleles between affective temperaments (depressive, cyclothymic, hyperthymic, irritable and anxious temperament) and non affective temperaments was shown. One-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) revealed no significant differences among 5 groups (depressive, cyclothymic, hyperthymic, irritable and anxious temperament) in healthy subjects for all the scores of affective temperaments by TEMPS-A.


CONCLUSIONS
The number of subjects was relatively small.


CONCLUSIONS
The variant of BDNF, GSK3β and Wnt gene polymorphism might not be related to the five temperaments of TEMPS-A and TEMPS-A score in healthy Japanese subjects. The present results suggest that BDNF, GSK3βand Wnt genes, might not have a major role in the development of personality traits. Further studies with larger sample size are warranted to evaluate the association of affective temperament and gene polymorphisms.
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Oita University Faculty of Medicine, Yufu, Oita, Japan.
Takashi
T
Tsutsumi
Takeshi
T
Terao
Kengo
K
Hatanaka
Shinjiro
S
Goto
Nobuhiko
N
Hoaki
Yumei
Y
Wang
D000328:Adult; D000339:Affect; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005787:Gene Frequency / Q000235:genetics; D056726:Genetic Association Studies; D005838:Genotype; D038362:Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 / Q000235:genetics*; D000071679:Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 beta; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide / Q000235:genetics*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics*; D013694:Temperament; D051153:Wnt Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D055815:Young Adult
D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D051153:Wnt Proteins; C000605506:GSK3B protein, human; D000071679:Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3 beta; D038362:Glycogen Synthase Kinase 3