BDNF protects against stress‐induced impairments in spatial learning and memory and LTP

Abstract

The present study investigated whether infusion of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) could ameliorate stress-induced impairments in spatial learning and memory as well as hippocampal long-term potentiation (LTP) of rats. Chronic immobilization stress (2 h/day x 7 days) significantly impaired spatial performance in the Morris water maze, elevated plasma corticosterone, and attenuated LTP in hippocampal slices from these animals as compared with normal control subjects. BDNF was infused into the left hippocampus (0.5 mul/h) for 14 days, beginning 7 days before the stress exposure. The BDNF group was protected from the deleterious effects of stress and performed at a level indistinguishable from normal control animals despite the presence of elevated corticosterone. BDNF alone and sham infusions had no effect on performance or LTP. These results demonstrate that spatial learning and memory, and LTP, a candidate neural substrate of learning and memory, are compromised during chronic stress, and may be protected by BDNF administration.

Effects of multiparity on recognition memory, monoaminergic neurotransmitters, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF)

“…This hypothesis is supported by the evidence to date that BDNF is important for LTP in CA1 hippocampus (Ying et al, 2002;Pang and Lu, 2004), that BDNF plays an important role in learning and memory Tyler et al, 2002;Alonso et al, 2005), and specifically is involved in spatial memory (Linnarsson et al, 1997;Mu et al, 1999;Mizuno et al, 2000;Radecki et al, 2005). This hypothesis is also consistent with a role for both CA1 and septum in memory performance.…”

“…In particular, hippocampal BDNF is of importance due to its role in learning and memory Tyler et al, 2002), particularly spatial memory (Radecki et al, 2005), as well as the well-accepted cellular substrate of learning and memory, long-term potentiation (Ying et al, 2002;Pang and Lu, 2004). Cholinergic input from the septum seems to modulate spatial memory (Smith and Pang, 2005); these same neurons transport BDNF protein from hippocampus to septum (Sobreviela et al, 1996).…”

The Effect of Exercise on Learning and Spatial Memory Following Stress-Induced Sleep Deprivation (Sleep REM) in Rats

“…However, due to the inherent stress of forced exercise, it is assumed that this type of exercise may not induce beneficial effects in acquisition, but this hypothesis is somewhat challenging. Some reports suggest that moderate treadmill training can improve spatial learning in aged rats (38).…”

Metabotropic Glutamate Receptor Subtype 7 Ablation Causes Dysregulation of the HPA Axis and Increases Hippocampal BDNF Protein Levels: Implications for Stress-Related Psychiatric Disorders

“…Lower hippocampal BDNF levels have been found subsequent to various stressors such as prenatal stress (Fumagalli et al, 2004), footshock stress (Rasmusson et al, 2002), postnatal stress (MacQueen et al, 2003;Roceri et al, 2004) and restraint stress (Smith et al, 1995;Vaidya et al, 1997;Xu et al, 2004). Also of interest is the fact that intrahippocampal administration of BDNF protects against stress-induced impairments in spatial learning and memory and LTP (Radecki et al, 2005). Mechanisms underlying how stress alters BDNF levels and how BDNF modifies behavior are not currently clear (see Tapia-Arancibia et al, 2004 for review).…”