Background: We investigated whether neurotrophin (NT)-3 polymorphisms influenced the executive function of patients with 2 separate disease stages with similar dementia conditions: amnestic mild cognitive impairment (A-MCI) or mild Alzheimer disease (AD).
Methods: Among 215 outpatients with dementia and MCI, 155 with mild AD (n = 108) or A-MCI (n = 47) were recruited and divided into three genotypic groups based on the representative NT-3 functional polymorphisms rs6332 and rs6489630. Next, we compared the frontal assessment battery (FAB) total and subtest scores between the three genotypic groups.
Results: The total FAB score was not significantly associated with the rs6332 and rs6489630 genotypes; however, the conflicting instructions score among the 6 subtests was significantly associated with the rs6332 genotype (p < 0.05). Moreover, in patients with mild AD, the conflicting instructions score differed significantly among the three genotypic groups of rs6332 (p < 0.05) (G/G < A/A: p = 0.042 and G/A < A/A: p = 0.041). No significant differences in any other demographic variables were observed among the three genotypes of rs6332 and rs6489630.
Conclusion: These results suggested that an NT-3 polymorphism, rs6332, may significantly influence executive function, reflecting interference performances among patients with mild-stage AD.
Copyright © 2012 S. Karger AG, Basel.