Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Val66Met and Psychiatric Disorders: Meta-Analysis of Case-Control Studies Confirm Association to Substance-Related Disorders, Eating Disorders, and Schizophrenia

The moderation by the serotonin transporter gene of environmental adversity in the aetiology of mental illness: review and methodological analysis

“…123 The met allele has been associated with increased risk to psychiatric disorders, including eating disorders and schizophrenia but not mood disorders. 124 Two 5-HTTLPR G Â E studies with samples at the extremes of the age span have reported a three-way interaction between environmental adversity, the 5-HTTLPR and BDNF val66met polymorphism. 31,32 In both cases, the three-way interaction including BDNF was stronger than the two-way interaction of SLE with 5-HTTLPR.…”

Impact of Genetic Variant BDNF (Val66Met) on Brain Structure and Function

“…This difference may be related to the role that BDNF and its receptors play in the development as well as continued plasticity of the brain (Huang & Reichardt 2001, Lu et al 2005. Despite a wealth of information on individuals heterozygous for the Met polymorphism, little information exists for individuals who are homozygous for the Met allele (Met/Met) as this genotype is rare in the general population, comprising only 4% of people in Caucasian populations (Shimizu et al 2004, Gratacos et al 2007. In addition to effects on the hippocampus, studies have also shown decreased volume in the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, an area associated with planning and higher order cognitive functioning, as well subcortical regions such as the caudate nucleus in carriers of the Met allele (Pezawas et al 2004).…”

Association between brain-derived neurotrophic factor Val66Met and obesity in children and adolescents

“…BDNF affects the noradrenergic, dopaminergic, serotonergic, glutamatergic, and cholinergic neurotransmitters (Gratacos et al, 2007;Russo-Neustadt, 2003;Tapia-Arancibia et al, 2004), and is therefore implicated in the etiology of different mental disorders and altered behaviors (Russo-Neustadt, 2003). Its location in the hypothalamic regions such as the paraventricular, arcuate and ventromedial nuclei points to its role in feeding behavior, food intake regulation, energy expenditure, energy homeostasis, glucose homeostasis and weight control (Lebrun et al, 2006;Noble et al, 2011).…”

“…Most of the studies evaluated the role of BDNF Val66Met in eating disorders, and found either a significant association (Akkermann et al, 2011;Gratacos et al, 2007), or no association (Arija et al, 2010;Friedel et al, 2005) between the Met allele and eating disorders. The ethnic (Pivac et al, 2009), as well as population-related genetic differences (Petryshen et al, 2010) might explain the conflicting association results showing either that BDNF Val66Met Met/Met genotype was more frequently found in adult women with higher (Beckers et al, 2008) or with lower (Shugart et al, 2009) BMI.…”