在人種學研究上,巴拉阿克松酶有三種表現型,在不同族群中,有不同的基因頻率(B型之所占百分率)。而新加坡的中國人,經研究可區分基因頻率成一種三峰線之分布,但是大不列顛之中國人,無法將基因頻率區分成雙線或三峰線之分布,本計畫則進行研究台灣人巴拉阿克松酶基因頻率之分布。本文共收集258位台灣南投閩南人和67位客家人個案之血液並予以問卷調查,並偵測其巴拉阿克松酶、鹽刺激之巴拉阿克松酶及arylesterase。結果巴拉阿克松酶、鹽刺激之巴拉阿克松酶及鹽刺激之巴拉阿克松酶比arylesterase之比例,均無法清楚的區分出雙峰線或三峰線之分布,客家人比閩南人有較高的年齡、巴拉阿克松酶、鹽刺激之巴拉阿克松酶及鹽刺激之巴拉阿克松酶比arylesterase之比例,但統計上只有年齡及巴拉阿克松酶有顯著之差異。客家人和閩南人可能有很多之中間混合AB型之巴拉阿克松酶,使得區分出雙峰線或三峰線之分布相當困難,控制干擾因素後,研究只發現客家次族群本身是巴拉阿克松酶活性上升之唯一因素。
Three phenotypes of paraoxonase (PON) have been found in population studies. The B type gene frequency varies among different populations. The Singaporean Chinese gene frequency is trimodal. The gene frequency of British Chinese populations was neither bimodal nor trimodal. We conducted a study to determine the frequency distribution of PON in the Minnan and Hakka populations. We collected blood samples and questionnaires from Minnan and Hakka subjects from Nantou County, Taiwan, excluding those with PON confounding factors. The blood samples were then examined for PON-non-NaCl (PON without salt stimulation), PON-NaCl (PON with salt stimulation) and arylesterase activities. We compared median differences in age, sex, PON-non-NaCl, PON-NaCl, arylesterase, and PON-NaCl / arylesterase between Minnan and Hakka populations using chi-square and rank analysis of variance (ANOVA), adjusted for age. There were 258 Minnan and 67 Hakka subjects without confounding factors. None of the frequency distributions for PON-non-NaCl, PON-NaCl, or PON-NaCl/ arylesterase was clearly bimodal or trimodal. Hakka were older and had increased PON-non-NaCl, PON-NaCl, and PON-NaCl/ arylesterase when compared with Minnan, but only age and PON-non-NaCl were significantly different. Hakka and Minnan may have more heterozygous AB phenotype for PON, which might explain why the frequency distribution is not trimodal or bimodal. Marriage among Minnan, Hakka, Aborigines, and other Mainland Chinese in Taiwan may be responsible for difficulty in differentiating gene frequencies among subpopulations by PON phenotype. Nonetheless, the Hakka appeared to have greater PON activity than the Minnan. Subpopulation in itself may be a factor for higher PON activity among the Hakka after controlling for confounding factors.