Abstract

The aim of the study is to investigate the association of polymorphism of cannabinoid receptor 2 (CNR2) gene at site rs2501431 with bone mineral density (BMD) in Chinese postmenopausal women. 490 Chinese Han postmenopausal women were randomly enrolled and their BMD were measured by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) at total body, lumbar spine (L2-L4), femoral neck and trochanter. Genotypes for the CNR2 rs2501431 were determined by polymerase-chain-reaction with the confronting-two-primer (PCR-CTPP). The genotype distribution of CNR2 rs2501431 was fit with Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium (p>0.05). The number of subjects with AA, AG and GG genotype were 190 (38.8%), 218 (44.5%) and 82 (16.7%), respectively. There were no differences in BMD among three genotypes for all tested women. However, age at natural menopause of GG genotype was one year younger than those with the AA genotype (p<0.05). Our results suggest that rs2501431 may be related with to menopause age in Chinese Han population. However, there was no association of genotype polymorphisms of CNR2 rs2501431 and BMD in Chinese Han postmenopausal women.

Key words: Bone mineral density, cannabinoid receptor 2 gene, rs2501431, polymorphism.