Stuart Kimberley, Summers Mathew James, Valenzuela Michael J, Vickers James C
Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre, University of Tasmania, Australia; School of Medicine, University of Tasmania, Tasmania, Australia.
Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre, University of Tasmania, Australia; School of Psychology, University of Tasmania, Tasmania, Australia.
Neurobiol Learn Mem. 2014 Apr;110:1-7. doi: 10.1016/j.nlm.2014.01.013. Epub 2014 Jan 24.
Cognitive decline is a major factor in lowering the quality of life in older populations, and contributes substantially to social, economic, and health costs. As humans age, cognitive function decreases differentially, and individual differences in cognitive ageing are likely attributed to a range of causes, including environmental and genetic influences. The current study included 360 participants (240 females and 120 males) aged between 50 and 79years from the Tasmanian Healthy Brain Project. The brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) Val66Met and Catechol-O-Methyltransferase (COMT) Val158Met polymorphisms were examined for their association with visual and auditory episodic memory performance. The polymorphisms were also investigated for their association with reported life-long engagement in complex cognitive activity using a retrospective questionnaire. Relative to the demographic variables, the gene variations were found to have no association with episodic memory performance, with the exception of the COMT polymorphism on a single measure of auditory memory (RAVLT). Several other studies also demonstrated that these polymorphisms have no, small, or inconsistent effects on memory function. The BDNF Val66Met and COMT Val158Met polymorphisms were also found to be of little significance to active engagement in complex cognitive activity throughout most of the lifespan. An association was detected between BDNF Val66Met and engagement in cognitive activity in early life (p=.04, d=.23), however this did not reach significance when adjusted for multiple comparisons. The biological mechanisms that underlie engagement in cognitive activity are elusive, thus the potential relationship between BDNF Val66Met genotype and early life cognitive engagement warrants further investigation.
认知衰退是降低老年人群生活质量的一个主要因素，并且在很大程度上导致了社会、经济和健康成本的增加。随着人类年龄的增长，认知功能会出现不同程度的下降，认知衰老的个体差异可能归因于一系列原因，包括环境和遗传影响。本研究纳入了塔斯马尼亚健康大脑项目中360名年龄在50至79岁之间的参与者（240名女性和120名男性）。研究了脑源性神经营养因子（BDNF）Val66Met和儿茶酚-O-甲基转移酶（COMT）Val158Met基因多态性与视觉和听觉情景记忆表现之间的关联。还通过回顾性问卷调查了这些多态性与报告的终身参与复杂认知活动之间的关联。相对于人口统计学变量，发现基因变异与情景记忆表现无关，但COMT基因多态性在听觉记忆的单一测量指标（雷伊听觉词语学习测验）上除外。其他一些研究也表明，这些多态性对记忆功能没有、只有很小或不一致的影响。BDNF Val66Met和COMT Val158Met基因多态性在生命的大部分时间里对积极参与复杂认知活动也几乎没有显著意义。在BDNF Val66Met与早年参与认知活动之间检测到一种关联（p = 0.04，d = 0.23），然而在进行多重比较校正后，这种关联未达到显著水平。参与认知活动背后的生物学机制尚不清楚，因此BDNF Val66Met基因型与早年认知参与之间的潜在关系值得进一步研究。
