Kaohsiung Journal of Medical Sciences
Volume 23, Issue 11 , Pages 560-565, November 2007

Neuropeptide Y Gene Polymorphism and Plasma Neuropeptide Y Level in Febrile Seizure Patients in Taiwan

  • Lung-Chang Lin

      Affiliations

    • Department of Pediatrics, Kaohsiung Municipal Hsiao-Kang Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Hung-Shun Lin

      Affiliations

    • Clinical Laboratory, Kaohsiung Municipal Hsiao-Kang Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
    • ,
  • Rei-Cheng Yang

      Affiliations

    • Department of Pediatrics, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
    • Department of Physiology, Graduate Institute of Physiology and Molecular Medicine, College of Medicine, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
    • Corresponding Author InformationAddress correspondence and reprint requests to: Dr Rei-Cheng Yang, Department of Pediatrics, Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital, 100 Tzyou 1st Road, Kaohsiung 807, Taiwan

Received 15 February 2007; accepted 25 April 2007.

Article Outline

Neuropeptide Y (NPY) has been shown to depress the hyperexcitability of neurons. In the present study, we investigated the association between the nucleotide (nt) 5671 C/T polymorphism of the NPY gene and the plasma NPY level in patients with febrile seizures (FS). Fifty-six patients with FS and 55 control subjects were enrolled. Genotype and allele frequencies were compared. The frequencies of genotypes TT, TC and CC for the NPY gene nt 5671 C/T polymorphism were 21.4%, 28.6% and 50.0%, respectively, in patients with FS, and 14.6%, 40.0% and 45.4%, respectively, in control subjects. The frequencies of alleles T and C were 35.7% and 64.3%, respectively, in patients with FS, while those in the control group were 34.5% and 65.5%, respectively. We found no significant relationship between the NPY gene nt 5671 C/T polymorphism and FS. The plasma NPY concentrations of the FS group, the age-matched non-FS group, and subjects aged > 6 years in the non-FS group were 48.23±32.49, 55.36±23.12, and 70.10±60.31 pg/mL, respectively. These results indicate no statistical difference in plasma NPY concentration between FS patients and the non-FS group. However, plasma NPY concentration was found to increase significantly with age.

Key Words:  febrile seizures , neuropeptide Y , polymorphism

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PII: S1607-551X(08)70003-2

doi:10.1016/S1607-551X(08)70003-2

Kaohsiung Journal of Medical Sciences
Volume 23, Issue 11 , Pages 560-565, November 2007

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