The Effect of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) val66met Polymorphism on the Learning of Complex Motor Skill

Document Type : Original Article (s)

Authors

1 PhD Student, Department of Motor Behavior, School of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

2 Assistant Professor, Department of Motor Behavior, School of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

3 Associate Professor, Department of Motor Behavior, School of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Mashhad, Iran

4 Assistant Professor, Research Center for Biochemistry and Nutrition in Metabolic Diseases, Kashan University of Medical Sciences, Kashan, Iran

Abstract

Background: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), is a protein that plays an important role in neuroprotection, neurogenesis and synaptic plasticity, by which it plays an important role in motor learning. The presence of val66met single nucleotide polymorphism in one area of the BDNF gene Leads to disruption in the expression of this protein. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether this polymorphism can impair the learning of the complex motor skill.Methods: 100 students from different universities in Kashan, Iran, (mean age 21/60 ± 2/20) were randomly selected and after genetic test, we identified 46 people without val66met polymorphism, while the other 54 were affected. 28 people of both genetic group (56 people overall), after Pre-test, practiced badminton drop shot for 10 sessions, and 72 hours after the last training session, the post-test had been done. Kolmogorov-Smirnov test was used to investigate the normality of data distribution, and independent t-test and repeated measures ANOVA were used for data analysis (α = 0.05).Findings: Results showed that, although both groups improved their performance through exercise, there was no significant difference between the groups in the pre and post-test.Conclusion: Results of the study showed no significant differences between people with and without val66met polymorphism in the learning of badminton drop shot; however, this may be due to many factors including the type of task and the exercise protocol used in this study.

Keywords


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