Interethnic variability in birth weight and genetic background: A study of placental alkaline phosphatase

✍ Scribed by Amante, A.; Borgiani, P.; Gimelfarb, A.; Gloria-Bottini, F.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 379 KB
• Volume: 101
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0002-9483
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1096-8644(199612)101:4<449::aid-ajpa1>3.0.co;2-r

✦ Synopsis

The relationship between human placental alkaline phosphatase (PLAP) genotype and birth weight is investigated in a sample of white, black and Puerto-Rican new-born infants from New Haven, Connecticut (total 710 subjects). Black and Puerto-Rican infants show a higher incidence of growth retardation and a higher frequency of ALPp*1/*1 genotype as compared to whites. The proportion of newborns with a low birth weight (below the 10th percentile) is lower in infants with ALPp*1/*1 genotype than in those with other PLAP genotypes, especially among non-whites. It is argued that the higher frequency of ALPp*1 allele among non-whites might be, at least in part, a consequence of their adaptation in the past to environmental conditions adverse to optimal intrauterine development.