Objective: To explore the difference of serum adiponectin (APN) level in hypertensive patients of phlegm-dampness constitution (PDC) and in those of non-PDC, as well as its association with APN gene polymorphisms.
Methods: Serum APN levels in 250 hypertensive patients (137 of PDC and 113 of non-PDC) were determined, and a correlation study was performed on 8 selected single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) of APN gene.
Results: Significant differences of serum APN levels were observed between PDC and non-PDC patients (5.07 +/- 0.35 microg/mL vs 6.41 +/- 0.39 microg/mL, P = 0.045). No significant difference in polymorphism distribution of the 8 SNP sites of APN genes was found between patients of different constitutions (P > 0.05). Serum APN level was significantly lower in PDC patients than in non-PDC patients in sites of APN gene rs1063537 (3224C/T) polymorphism TT genotype (2.580 +/- 1.029 microg/mL vs 6.011 +/- 0.945 microg/mL, P = 0.017) and CT genotype (5.113 +/- 0.968 microg/mL vs 7.812 +/- 0.161 microg/mL, P = 0.021), while that of CC genotype was insignificant between the two constitutions (5.426 +/- 0.591 microg/mL vs 6.130 +/- 0.668 microg/mL).
Conclusion: Serum APN level was significantly lower in hypertensive patients of PDC than in those of non-PDC. Moreover, the APN gene SNP3224 T allele carrier might be a hereditary feature of APN abnormity.