Serum concentrations of brain-derived neurotrophic factor and mental disorders in imprisoned women

Abstract

Objective: Mental disorders and early trauma are highly prevalent in female inmates. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays an important role in learning, memory processes, and mood regulation. The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between serum BDNF levels and mental disorders among imprisoned women as compared with age-and education-matched controls. Methods: A consecutively recruited sample of 18 female prisoners with mental disorders was assessed for sociodemographic, criminal, and clinical variables using standardized instruments, the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview Plus (MINI Plus), and serum BDNF levels. Results: High rates of childhood sexual abuse and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were found in the group of forensic patients. Serum BDNF levels in the forensic group did not differ from those of healthy controls, and were significantly higher when compared with those of women with mental disorders hospitalized in a general hospital. Conclusion: Elevated serum BDNF levels were found in imprisoned women. The results of this study may suggest neurobiological mechanisms similar to those seen in previous clinical and preclinical studies showing the involvement of BDNF in the pathophysiology of PTSD.

Peripheral blood levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): A systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Although 46 out of 83 cases (55%) in Blessing et al's study had a confirmed diagnosis of MDD in addition to the PTSD and twenty of them consume anti-depressant drugs, no correlation analysis was carried out to address the effect of this factors on BDNF measures [6]. Despite detecting symptoms of depression, mania, and anxiety with or without drug consumption, Bucker et al and Dotta-Panichi et al did not include these variables in their analysis [13,28].…”

“…In summary, except for Dotta-Panichi et al [13], Hauck et al [39], Martinotti et al [40], and Matsuoka et al [31], who used sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), remaining included studies used conventional ELISA to measure BDNF. The characteristics of the included studies have been summarized in Table 1.…”

“…Changes in BDNF levels are marked in neuropsychiatric disorders, in particular, depression [10]. Although most studies pose a decline in the BDNF values post-stress [7,11,12], others fail to report this pattern of association [13].…”

Neurotrophic factors and hippocampal activity in PTSD

“…They found lower BDNF serum levels in patients with PTSD as compared to individuals who do not develop PTSD following traumatic experience. Controversely, other studies found that patients with PTSD had higher BDNF levels than controls [ 24 – 28 ]. Those levels are higher right the traumatic event and six months later [ 27 ], decreasing over time, and were not significantly different from the controls after the 1-year of traumatic experience [ 26 ].…”

Effects of systemic administration of ibuprofen on stress response in a rat model of post-traumatic stress disorder

“…Evidence suggests that BDNF mediates the pathophysiology of mood disorders, including PTSD [ 16 ]. A recent study reported significantly lower plasma BDNF levels in PTSD patients compared with healthy controls [ 17 ]. These findings support the idea that novel pharmacological tools targeting inflammatory mediators and BDNF expression might be promising new anti-PTSD drugs.…”