Fast BDNF serum level increase and diurnal BDNF oscillations are associated with therapeutic response after partial sleep deprivation

Abstract

The elasticity in diurnal serum BDNF variation is associated with favourable treatment response to PSD in patients suffering from MDD. Therefore, a normalized BDNF serum profile which oscillates in a circadian fashion seems to precede, rather than follow a favourable treatment outcome in depressed patients. Furthermore the fast increase of BDNF is comparable to effects seen with ketamine infusion.

Improved Alertness Is Associated with Early Increase in Serum Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor and Antidepressant Treatment Outcome in Major Depression

“…This hypothesis has been supported by research on the rapid antidepressant effect of ketamine, where BDNF-Met66 allele carriers with a lower activity-dependent release of BDNF were less likely responders [78] . Further evidence of the clinical relevance of early sBDNF increases comes from a study on partial sleep deprivation in which a fast-acting antidepressant intervention also induced rapid sBDNF increases [79] . Again, more elasticity in sBDNF variation was associated with a positive treatment outcome.…”

BDNF Responses in Healthy Older Persons to 35 Minutes of Physical Exercise, Cognitive Training, and Mindfulness: Associations with Working Memory Function

“…Serum was collected, mixed by inverting, and aliquoted into 0.5 mL Eppendorf tubes. All measurements were performed in the morning hours between 08 a.m. and 12 to minimize impact of natural diurnal variations in BDNF levels [54]. The time of day was also kept as similar as possible within participants across the three conditions.…”

Nerve growth factor, brain-derived neurotrophic factor, and the chronobiology of mood: a new insight into the "neurotrophic hypothesis"

“…In the work by Giese et al, diurnal BDNF oscillations in patients with major depression associated with therapeutic response (in both sexes) after partial sleep deprivation. 144 Specifically, subjects identified as responders (after 2 weeks of treatment) were associated with a daily change in serum BDNF at day 1 and even pretreatment, at baseline. This variation of peripheral BDNF concentration revealed characteristics of a diurnal pattern, whereas nonresponders did not exhibit diurnal BDNF variation.…”

“…escitalopram, ketamine, lithium, and sleep deprivation have all been demonstrated to increase BDNF peripheral levels in patients with major depression. [141][142][143][144] The improvement of depressive symptoms with escitalopram coincided with significant improvements in the recall of both the quantity and quality of dreams, and dreaming, therefore, could be considered a biomarker of the efficacy of AD therapy, also for its evidence of chronobiological trends. 98,145 Animal models have also confirmed a BDNF change in rat HIP following agomelatine, while treatment with escitalopram affects BDNF expression in HIP and NGF in the cortex but not in other brain areas and serum.…”

“…148 With regard to non-pharmacological chronotherapeutic treatments, sleep deprivation in depressed patients has showed to produce a rapid increase in BDNF levels after a single treatment, and affect diurnal serum profile in responding patients. 144,149 Light therapy has also showed to affect the diurnal trend of BDNF in the serum and saliva of young healthy women, and serum BDNF concentration in both men and women correlates with the sunshine hours per week throughout the year in both men and women, and with the seasonality of depressive symptoms. 58,150 No data on the effects of sleep deprivation on the NGF diurnal and/or nocturnal profile in humans are available at present.…”