Effect of the XbaI polymorphism of estrogen receptor alpha on postmenopausal gray matter.
No Thumbnail Available
Date
2008-03-24
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
The frequent polymorphism XbaI A351G in the estrogen receptor alpha ERalpha gene has been associated with some postmenopausal pathologies risk such as Alzheimer s disease AD or cognitive decline In the present study we explored whether the XbaI polymorphism leads to different gray matter volumes using voxel based morphometry VBM on 20 magnetic resonance images of healthy postmenopausal women Subjects carrying the less common XbaI X allele were contrasted to non carriers in groups well balanced by relevant confounding variables The XbaI X allele carriers displayed clusters ranging from 9 to 28 of tissue reductions in the cerebellar cluster size z stereotactic coordinates 16 mm 3 3 17 14 94 38 and cerebral cortex in particular in the occipital lobe 272 mm 3 3 76 38 68 16 in the middle frontal gyrus 192 mm 3 3 71 38 12 38 and in the middle temporal gyrus while the opposite comparison was negative The XbaI X allele in ERalpha gene is associated to smaller gray matter volumes of the cerebral and cerebellar cortex This allele might increase the susceptibility for senile neurodegenerative conditions being associated to smaller cerebral reserve