Polymorphism in intron 23 of the endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene (NOS3) is not associated with hypertension.

Nitric oxide (NO) is synthesised in the vascular endothelium by nitric oxide synthase (NOS3) and is an important factor in the regulation of blood pressure. Impaired synthesis of NO due to mutations in the NOS3 gene is associated with hypertension. To date several allelic variants of the NOS3 gene have been identified and their possible linkage with hypertension investigated. We studied the distribution of genotypes and frequency of alleles of the G11T polymorphism in intron 23 of the NOS3 gene in patients with hypertension and in a control group of healthy individuals. The polymorphism was determined by PCR-RFLP analysis. The distribution of genotypes in the patients with hypertension and in the healthy individuals did not differ significantly from the values predicted from Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium for the general population. No major differences in the distribution of the G11T polymorphism in the patients and healthy individuals were found (P > 0.05).