Associations of Brain-Derived Neurotropic Factor rs6265 Gene Polymorphism with Personality Dimensions among Athletes

Abstract

Brain-Derived Neurotropic Factor (BDNF) is one of the essential mediating factors of exercise-induced neuroplasticity, but the underlying molecular mechanisms of exercise-induced neuroplasticity are still largely unknown. Personality dimensions differentiate individuals and depend on genes and environmental factors. The dimensions of openness to experience, emotional stability, extraversion and conscientiousness have been reported to be positively related to performance; considering agreeableness, a negative relation with sports performance was emphasized. However, not enough effort has been put into investigating the relationship between genetic polymorphisms affecting psychological abilities and competitive power sports. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of the rs6265 polymorphism of BDNF with personality dimensions in martial arts athletes. The study was conducted among martial arts athletes. The study group included 258 volunteers (martial arts athletes (n = 106) and controls (n = 152). BDNF polymorphism testing was performed using the real-time PCR method; personality dimensions were assessed using standardized NEO-FFI questionnaires. All analyses were performed using STATISTICA 13. We observed that martial arts athletes’ G/G genotypes compared to the control group G/G genotypes presented significantly higher severity of personality dimension “conscientiousness”. In comparison with the controls, the case group subjects had significantly higher scores in the dimension extraversion (M 6.89 vs. M 6.43, p = 0.0405) and conscientiousness/scale (M 7.23 vs. M 5.89, p < 0.0001). The results of 2 × 3 factorial ANOVA noticed a statistically significant effect of combined factor BDNF rs6265 genotype of martial arts/control (F2,252 = 3.11, p = 0.0465, η2 = 0.024). Additionally, we observed that the results of 2 × 3 factorial ANOVA showed a statistically significant influence of combined factor BDNF rs6265 of genotype martial arts/ control (F2,252 = 6.16, p = 0.0024, η2 = 0.047). The combination of the analysis of personality dimensions with genetics—as in the case of the polymorphism of the BDNF gene related to neuroplasticity—indicates that neurobiology cannot be ignored in educating sports champions. We already know that this is related to genetics. However, little is still known about the influence of personality traits on sports performance. We observed that martial arts athletes’ G/G genotypes, in comparison to the control group’s G/G genotypes, presented significantly higher severity of personality dimension “conscientiousness”. This is worthy of further analysis and probably longitudinal studies on a more numerous group of athletes.

Risk-taking and stress tolerance as factors of belonging to professional and leisure groups and their association with six candidate genes

“…По локусам HTR2A-rs6311 и CRHR1-rs7209436 десантники дифференцировались от контроля и гонщиков. Данные по BDNF-rs6265 можно интерпретировать с учетом ранее полученных выводов об ассоциации GG варианта с повышенной ответственностью и экстраверсией у спортсменов единоборцев [Humińska-Lisowska et al, 2022]. Повышенная частота Т-аллеля CRHR1-rs7209436 только у десантников также представляется вполне ожидаемой на фоне недавнего вывода докторской диссертации Д. Вугензена [Wuergezhen, 2019] о том, что Т-аллель снижает стрессовую реакцию, риск возникновения депрессии у половозрелых индивидов и участвует в контроле уровня серотонина.…”

Advancing Age and the rs6265 BDNF SNP are Permissive to Graft-induced Dyskinesias in Parkinsonian Rats

“…While the rs6265 SNP is not thought to be associated with PD incidence [19][20][21][22], it has been documented to alter therapeutic responses of individuals with PD to levodopa [23,24]. This SNP has a high, but heterogenous, global prevalence of approximately 20% (e.g., 22% in Caucasian populations, 72% in Asian populations, 2% African American [25][26][27]). Considering the prevalence of the rs6265 SNP and the influential roles of BDNF in the grafted brain (e.g., supporting embryonic VM graft survival and function [28][29][30][31][32][33] and promoting dendritic spine growth and formation of synapses [34] important to striatal graft-host integration), we hypothesized that this genetic risk factor may underlie the variability in clinical response to DA neuron grafting in individuals with PD.…”

Personality, negative affectivity and emotional intelligence: gender-differentiated relationships with physical exercise

“…Greater extraversion is related to a greater frequency of physical exercise ( Kroencke et al, 2019 ; Kekäläinen et al, 2020 ; McDowell et al, 2020 ; Gacek et al, 2021 ; Okely et al, 2021 ). Similarly, awareness and agreeableness tend to improve performance in athletes ( Stine et al, 2019 ), but in young people, openness and agreeableness are negatively related to the probability being physically active ( Bessey, 2018 ; Hearon and Harrison, 2021 ), and athletes have significantly higher consciousness sores than do people who do not engage in physical exercise ( Michałowska-Sawczyn et al, 2019 ; Humińska-Lisowska et al, 2022 ). Finally, elite athletes show greater openness than do average athletes ( Mitić et al, 2021 ), and openness has a moderating effect between exercise intention and exercise behavior ( Ma et al, 2022 ).…”