Plasma Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor as a Biomarker for the Main Types of Mild Neurocognitive Disorders and Treatment Efficacy: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

Decreased levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) are assumed to play a crucial role in the pathophysiology of mild neurocognitive disorders (MNCDs). In this study, we compared plasma BDNF levels (at baseline and after two months of treatment with escitalopram) in patients with the main types of MNCDs and normal controls. 21 patients met the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria for possible MNCD due to Alzheimer's disease (MNCD-AD); 22 patients fulfilled the diagnostic criteria for subcortical vascular MNCD (ScVMNCD) according to Frisoni et al. (2002) and neuroimaging-supported probable diagnosis of vascular MNCD according to DSM-5; 16 subjects entered control group. At baseline, we detected lower BDNF levels in both MNCD groups, which was significant only in subjects with MNCD-AD. Moreover, plasma BDNF level of 21160 pg/mL showed high sensitivity (94%) to discriminate patients with MNCD-AD. Decreased plasma BDNF highly correlated with the severity of memory impairment and total MMSE score in MNCD-AD group. Escitalopram treatment in patients with MNCD-AD or ScVMNCD led to an increase of plasma BDNF concentrations and as a result to a decrease of cognitive, depressive, and anxiety symptom severity. In conclusion, plasma BDNF might be a reliable biomarker for the validation of MNCD-AD diagnosis and treatment efficacy.

Increase in Blood Levels of Growth Factors Involved in the Neuroplasticity Process by Using an Extremely Low Frequency Electromagnetic Field in Post-stroke Patients

“…A positive correlation between BDNF level and the MMSE scale was previously shown by Belviranli et al (2016) who investigated the dependence of cognitive parameters (assessed by MMSE) and BDNF plasma level in endurance athletes. Similarity, Levada et al (2016) observed that after BDNF administration in patients with mild neurocognitive disorders, their MMSE level increased. The decline in parameters on the GDS scale was about 50% greater in the ELF-EMF group, in comparison to the non-ELF-EMF group.…”

Peripheral immune factors are elevated in women with current or recent alcohol dependence and associated with altered mood and memory

“…Reductions in BDNF are often associated with mood disorders (reviewed in Hashimoto, 2010; Moonat et al, 2011) and cognitive impairments (Levada et al, 2016); however, elevations in BDNF are also reported in bipolar disorder (Barbosa et al, 2013) as well as in inflammatory conditions with a high prevalence of co-morbid depression and anxiety such as fibromyalgia (Epstein et al, 1999; Haas et al, 2010; Okifuji et al, 2000). Thus, alcohol-related neuropsychiatric symptoms may share common pathways with neuropsychiatric symptoms observed in fibromyalgia and in mental health disorders potentially mediated via inflammatory mechanisms.…”

Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor in Brain Disorders: Focus on Neuroinflammation

“…BDNF mRNA and protein levels are also reduced in cognition-related structures such as hippocampus and frontal cortex, which corroborates BDNF depletion to be involved in the cognitive deficit leading to AD dementia [ 139 ]. BDNF levels are also reduced in plasma of patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) [ 140 ] and AD [ 141 ]. AD patients with higher serum concentrations of BDNF showed less cognitive decline after 1 year; this effect was more pronounced in the more severe stages of the disease [ 142 , 143 ].…”