DOI: 10.36347/sjams.2016.v04i11.054

Pages: 4134-4140

Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) is the major enzyme responsible for nitric oxide production and its polymorphisms like exon7 (G to T) is linked to essential hypertension in many ethnic groups. The association of 27 bp variable number of tandem repeat (VNTR) polymorphism in intron 4 is more controversial and hence, it is proposed to explore its role in essential hypertension in our population. The aim of the study was to elucidate the allelic frequencies of eNOS intron4 VNTR in patients and controls, and to determine if there is any correlation between this polymorphism and essential hypertension. Genotype analysis was done for 150 essential hypertensives and 130 matched normotensive controls by Polymerase Chain Reaction. Homozygous ‘aa’ genotype was found to be more prevalent in hypertensives (4.6%), when compared to controls (3.1%). In contrast, both homozygous ‘bb’ and heterozygous ‘ab’ were more common in controls. But, the results were not statistically significant. eNOS intron4 VNTR polymorphism was not found to be an independent risk factor for essential hypertension , based on this study.