Melanocortin-4 receptor gene polymorphism and the level of physical activity in men (HALS Study)

Abstract

Melanocortin plays an important role in the energy balance in humans. Actions of melanocortin are exerted through activation of five receptors among which the melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) is especially abundant within the central nervous system (CNS). It has been proved that genetic variations of the MC4R gene are associated with the energy intake. Recent data has suggested that MC4R gene polymorphism might influence physical activity/energy expenditure as well. Our aim was to search for associations between MC4R polymorphisms and the level of physical activity. We genotyped MC4R in a population-based cohort of 311 men. The level of physical activity was determined with use of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire. We have found that physical effort expressed as log METs-min/week (corrected for age, BMI and educational status) was 6.61 in men declaring low, 7.56-moderate and 8.96-high level of physical activity. We have not found any associations between the C-2745T MC4R polymorphism and the level of physical activity (P = 0.53). There were no interactions between the level of physical activity and the C-2745T polymorphisms either (P = 0.47). We conclude that the C-2745T genetic polymorphism of the MC4R gene does not influence the level of physical activity in healthy, adult men.

Missense mutations and polymorphisms of the MC4R gene in Polish obese children and adolescents in relation to the relative body mass index

“…In non-obese subjects, the incidence of the carriers varied from 0% (Germany), 1% to 3.3% (Italy), 2.8% (Finland), up to 9% (Turkey). Recently, the V103I polymorphism was also studied in a cohort of 311 Polish adults (mean BMI = 27) in relation to their physical activity (Jóźków et al 2011 ). The incidence of the 103I variant carriers was high (6.4%) and, in addition, one patient (0.3%) had a homozygous 103I/103I genotype.…”

Polymorphic Variants of Neurotransmitter Receptor Genes May Affect Sexual Function in Aging Males: Data from the HALS Study

“…More than 40% of the volunteers held a university degree and we found that longer education was associated with fewer symptoms. We underlined a higher than average level of physical activity of the enrolled men in our previous publication [18]. The major strength of this study is that the investigated men derived from a genetically homogeneous region, they were generally healthy and did not receive drugs that could interfere with the measurements.…”

“…The details of the genotyping of 5-HT, MC and DA receptors have been described in our previous reports [16,17,18]. …”

Behavioral and Environmental Modification of the Genetic Influence on Body Mass Index: A Twin Study

“…Other obesity-related genes similarly interact with physical inactivity to predict lower BMI, including ACE (Moran et al, 2005), ADRB2 (Corbalán et al, 2002; Lagou et al, 2012; Meirhaeghe et al, 1999), ADRB3 (Marti del Moral et al, 2002), PPARGC1A (Ridderstråle et al, 2006), SEC16B (Ahmad et al, 2013), and UPC3 (Otabe et al, 2000). Although several other studies have failed to observe such interactive effects (Berentzen et al, 2005; Cauchi et al, 2009; Edwards et al, 2013; Jonsson et al, 2009; Jóźków et al, 2011; Kaakinen et al, 2010; Lappaläinen et al, 2009; Liem et al, 2010; Liu et al, 2010; Nakashima et al, 2013; Tan et al, 2008) or have found interaction effects in the opposite direction (Alonso et al, 2005), several experimental studies of interventions for weight loss that compare wild type individuals and persons with a risk allele have provided compelling evidence for physical activity as a moderator of genetic influences on high adiposity or obesity (de Luis et al, 2006; Shiwaku et al, 2003; but see Müller et al, 2008). …”