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Background/Aim. The Glu298Asp variant in exon 7 and T-786C mutation in the 5'-flanking region of the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) gene, paraoxonase I gene (PON1), and α2β- adrenergic receptor gene (α2β-AR) have been reported to be genetic risk factors for coronary heart disease (CHD). The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of these four genetic polymorphisms on the probability of death due to CHD, using data obtained from medico-legal autopsies. Methods. Blood samples from three groups: healthy controls, dead cases with CHD and without CHD (the latter as a control for dead cases) were used. After DNA extraction, genotyping was performed by polymerase chain reaction − restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP) test. Results. The frequency of the T allele in Glu298Asp variant in the dead cases with CHD was significantly higher than that in the healthy control (p < 0.001, OR = 4.47) and that in the dead cases without CHD (p < 0.001, OR = 7.62). The gene frequency of PON1 was significantly different (p = 0.007) between dead cases with and without CHD, and was also significantly different (p = 0.025) between the healthy control and dead cases without CHD. The gene frequency of PON1 was not significantly different (p = 0.401) between the healthy controls and dead cases with CHD. Hence this gene was not associated with death due to CHD. The other polymorphisms (T- 786C mutation, α2β-AR) also showed no effect on death due to CHD. Conclusion. The polymorphism of Glu298Asp eNOS gene in dead cases may be useful for determining the cause of death in CHD cases in the Japanese population.

Background/Aim. We have investigated proopiomelanocortin (POMC) mRNA expression in the arcuate nucleus of the hypothalamus (ARC) and the anterior lobe of the pituitary (AL) following repeated cyanamide-ethanol reaction (CER). Methods. Adult male Sprague -Dawley rats (250 −290 gr) were housed in a temperature and humidity controlled environment with free access to food and water. Four experimental groups were used as follows: saline (as control), cyanamide alone, ethanol alone and ethanol with cyanamide. The animals received daily intraperitoneal injections (i.p.) of cyanamide (10mg/kg, 60 min before ethanol dosing) with or without ethanol (1g/kg) for 5 consecutive days, and were sacrificed 60 min after the last dosing of ethanol. The results were presented as the mean ± SEM for each group. All groups within each data set were compared by one-way ANOVA followed by Fisher PLSD test for multiple comparisons. A value of p