Abstract:

Objective   To explore the association of aldehyde dehydrogenase 2 (ALDH2) gene polymorphism with the formation of carotid atherosclerotic plaques in cerebral infarction patients. Methods   Carotid ultrasonic inspection was conducted for 78 patients with atherosclerotic cerebral infarction which primary pathological location was at carotid artery. The patients,  hospitalized from January 2010 to June 2011, were divided into non-plaque type, stable plaque type and vulnerable plaque type according to the inspection results. 80 healthy people were served as control group. Polymerase chain reactionrestriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) method was adopted to detect G487A polymorphism of ALDH2 gene in the two groups. Results   More plaques were found in the cerebral infarction group than the control group. The frequency of AA/AG genotypes in the cerebral infarction group was significantly higher than in the control group, and the distributions of AA/AG and GG types were obviously different between the two groups. More carotid atherosclerotic plaques especially vulnerable plaques were found in the people with AA/AG genotypes than GG genotype. Conclusion   G487A polymorphism of human ALDH2 gene is related to the stability of carotid artery atherosclerotic plaque in the patients with cerebral infarction.