MK4MDD

Study Report

Reference
CitationSchmidt HD, 2010 PubMed
Full InfoSchmidt HD, Duman RS. Peripheral BDNF produces antidepressant-like effects in cellular and behavioral models. Neuropsychopharmacology 2010; 35(12): 2378-2391.

Study
Hypothesis or Background Recent clinical studies demonstrate that serum levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) are significantly decreased in patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and that antidepressant treatments reverse this effect, indicating that serum BDNF is a biomarker of MDD. These findings raise the possibility that serum BDNF may also have effects on neuronal activity and behavior, but the functional significance of altered serum BDNF is unknown.
Sample Informationmice
Method DetailTo address this issue, we determined the influence of peripheral BDNF administration on depression- and anxiety-like behavior, including the forced swim test (FST), chronic unpredictable stress (CUS)/anhedonia, novelty-induced hypophagia (NIH) test, and elevated-plus maze (EPM). Furthermore, we examined adult hippocampal neurogenesis as well as hippocampal and striatal expression of BDNF, extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) and cAMP response element-binding protein (CREB), in order to determine whether peripherally administered BDNF produces antidepressant-like cellular responses in the brain
Method Keywordsdose administration; forced swimming test ; novelty-induced hypophagia test; elevated plus maze
ResultPeripheral BDNF administration increased mobility in the FST, attenuated the effects of CUS on sucrose consumption, decreased latency in the NIH test, and increased time spent in the open arms of an EPM. Moreover, adult hippocampal neurogenesis was increased after chronic, peripheral BDNF administration. We also found that BDNF levels as well as expression of pCREB and pERK were elevated in the hippocampus of adult mice receiving peripheral BDNF.
ConclusionsTaken together, these results indicate that peripheral/serum BDNF may not only represent a biomarker of MDD, but also have functional consequences on molecular signaling substrates, neurogenesis, and behavior.

Relationships reported by Schmidt HD, 2010