Meta-analyses of comparative efficacy of antidepressant medications on peripheral BDNF concentration in patients with depression

Abstract

BackgroundBrain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is one of the most important regulatory proteins in the pathophysiology of major depressive disorder (MDD). Increasing numbers of studies have reported the relationship between serum/plasma BDNF and antidepressants (ADs). However, the potential effects of several classes of antidepressants on BDNF concentrations are not well known. Hence, our meta-analyses aims to review the effects of differential antidepressant drugs on peripheral BDNF levels in MDD and make some recommendations for future research.MethodsElectronic databases including PubMed, EMBASE, the Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and PsycINFO were searched from 1980 to June 2016. The change in BDNF levels were compared between baseline and post-antidepressants treatment by use of the standardized mean difference (SMD) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs). All statistical tests were two-sided.ResultsWe identified 20 eligible trials of antidepressants treatments for BDNF in MDD. The overall effect size for all drug classes showed that BDNF levels were elevated following a course of antidepressants use. For between-study heterogeneity by stratification analyses, we detect that length of treatment and blood samples are significant effect modifiers for BDNF levels during antidepressants treatment. While both SSRIs and SNRIs could increase the BDNF levels after a period of antidepressant medication treatment, sertraline was superior to other three drugs (venlafaxine, paroxetine or escitalopram) in the early increase of BDNF concentrations with SMD 0.53(95% CI = 0.13–0.93; P = 0.009).ConclusionsThere is some evidence that treatment of antidepressants appears to be effective in the increase of peripheral BDNF levels. More robust evidence indicates that different types of antidepressants appear to induce differential effects on the BDNF levels. Since sertraline makes a particular effect on BDNF concentration within a short amount of time, there is potential value in exploring its relationship with BDNF and its pharmacological mechanism concerning peripheral blood BDNF. Further confirmatory trials are required for both observations.

Mindfulness‐based program for stress reduction in infertile women: Randomized controlled trial

“…In addition, hair cortisol and serum BDNF levels did not change significantly after MBP or no intervention (control). These results remained unchanged after sensitivity analyses excluding women with endometriosis (Rocha et al, ) or using antidepressant drugs (Zhou et al, ), which could have affected serum BDNF levels (data not shown).…”

A role for activity‐dependent epigenetics in the development and treatment of major depressive disorder

“…118 For example, effective antidepressant treatment is related to an increase in peripheral BDNF levels, and peripheral BDNF is inversely related to depression severity in human patients. 93,118,119 Moreover, longitudinal studies demonstrate that these effects appear to be mediated through epigenetics mechanisms at the BDNF promoter.…”

Measuring myokines with cardiovascular functions: pre-analytical variables affecting the analytical output

“…Plasma and partially serum, BDNF levels were modified in several diseases and conditions such as: fibromyalgia [increased (196)], hemodialysis [increased, especially in diabetic patients (197)], metabolic syndrome and T2DM [increased (198)], bipolar disorder [decreased (199)], as well as with mood, cognition and motor function (200), alcohol consumption [decreased (201)], antidepressant treatments [increased (202)]. …”