UC Irvine

Abnormalities of cortical representational maps and their plasticity have been described in dystonia. A common polymorphism for BDNF has been associated with abnormal cortical plasticity, and thus might contribute to pathogenesis of dystonia in some subjects. As a first step towards this suggestion, the current study examined the prevalence of this polymorphism. BDNF genotype was examined in 34 subjects with cervical dystonia, 54 age-matched healthy controls, and 53 subjects with a different movement disorder, Parkinson's disease. ApoE genotype, known to influence neurological outcome in some conditions, was also examined as a control. In subjects with cervical dystonia, the val(66)met polymorphism was approximately twice as prevalent when compared to either control group. This was not true of ApoE genotype, which was similarly distributed across subject groups. The current findings suggest that the BDNF val(66)met polymorphism might play a role in the pathogenesis of cervical dystonia in some subjects.