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Gene polymorphisms in prodynorphin (PDYN) are associated with episodic memory in the elderly

  • Basic Neurosciences, Genetics and Immunology - Original Article
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Abstract

Cognitive functions show large variation in elderly people and are substantially heritable. Animal studies revealed that dynorphins influence cognition and memory, especially in aged animals. Thus, we tested the effect of four SNPs (rs7272891, rs1997794, rs2235751 and rs910080) and the VNTR promoter polymorphism in the prodynorphin gene (PDYN) on episodic memory and verbal fluency in a large (n = 1619) sample of elderly people (mean age: 80 ± 3.39 years; range 75–90 years) recruited through the German study on ageing, cognition and dementia in primary care patients (AgeCoDe). We found that carriers of the minor alleles of rs1997794 (P < 0.002) and rs910080 (P < 0.005) presented with higher episodic memory scores than homozygote carriers of the major allele. Also, a three marker haplotype including these two SNPs and rs2235751 was associated with better episodic memory scores. Verbal fluency scores were non-significantly better in carriers of these respective alleles. Thus, our results suggest a role of PDYN gene variations in determining memory function also in elderly humans.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the German Competence Network on Dementia (CND) and was funded by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (grants CNDD: 01 GI 0710 Hamburg, 01 GI 0711 Bonn, 01 GI 0712 Mannheim, 01 GI 0713 Düsseldorf, 01 GI 0714 Leipzig, 01 GI 0715 München, 01 GI 0716 Hannover, 01 GI 0717 Bremen). We thank Beisa Burnic, Christine Frahnert-Ledschbor, Sandra Schmitz and Anne Schulz for skillful technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, University of Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Straße 25, 53105, Bonn, Germany

    Heike Kölsch, Michael Wagner, Moritz Daerr, Frank Jessen & Wolfgang Maier

  2. Institute of Molecular Psychiatry, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany

    Andras Bilkei-Gorzó

  3. Cologne Center for Genomics, University of Cologne, 50674, Cologne, Germany

    Mohammad Reza Toliat

  4. Department of General Practice, Düsseldorf University Medical Center, Düsseldorf, Germany

    Michael Pentzek & Angela Fuchs

  5. Institute of Primary Medical Care, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany

    Hanna Kaduszkiewicz & Hendrik van den Bussche

  6. Department of Psychiatry, University of Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany

    Steffi G. Riedel-Heller & Matthias C. Angermeyer

  7. Central Institute of Mental Health, Mannheim, Germany

    Siegfried Weyerer & Jochen Werle

  8. Department of Psychiatry, Technical University of Munich, Munich, Germany

    Horst Bickel & Edelgard Mösch

  9. Institute for Biometrics, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany

    Birgitt Wiese

  10. Department of Neurology, Ludwig-Maximilian-University Munich, Munich, Germany

    Martin Dichgans

Authors
  1. Heike Kölsch
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  2. Michael Wagner
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  3. Andras Bilkei-Gorzó
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  4. Mohammad Reza Toliat
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  5. Michael Pentzek
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  6. Angela Fuchs
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  7. Hanna Kaduszkiewicz
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  8. Hendrik van den Bussche
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  9. Steffi G. Riedel-Heller
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  10. Matthias C. Angermeyer
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  11. Siegfried Weyerer
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  12. Jochen Werle
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  13. Horst Bickel
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  14. Edelgard Mösch
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  15. Birgitt Wiese
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  16. Moritz Daerr
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  17. Frank Jessen
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  18. Wolfgang Maier
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  19. Martin Dichgans
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Heike Kölsch.

Additional information

H. Kölsch and M. Wagner contributed equally.

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Kölsch, H., Wagner, M., Bilkei-Gorzó, A. et al. Gene polymorphisms in prodynorphin (PDYN) are associated with episodic memory in the elderly. J Neural Transm 116, 897–903 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-009-0238-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-009-0238-5

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