NEUROPEPTIDE Y GENE POLYMORPHISM AND PLASMA NEUROPEPTIDE Y LEVEL IN FEBRILE SEIZURE PATIENTS IN TAIWAN

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.