Decreased serum BDNF levels in major depressive patients

Background

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays an important role in neuronal plasticity. The aim of the present study was to measure serum BDNF levels in depression and to analyze the relationship between BDNF levels and severity of depression.

Methods

Thirty patients meeting the DSM-IV criteria for major depressive disorder and 40 normal control subjects were recruited for this study. Patients had not used psychotropic drugs. The severity of depression was assessed by the Hamilton Rating of Depression Scale (HAM-D). Serum BDNF levels were determined by using ELISA.

Results

HAM-D scores were 17.09 ± 4.96 in depressed patients. We determined that the serum BDNF levels of the depression patients were lower than those of the healthy control group (respectively, 1453.42 ± 144.51 pg/ml, 1632.23 ± 252.93 pg/ml, t = 3.467, p = 0.001, independent t test). No correlation was found between the patients’ serum BDNF levels and HAM-D scores (p > 0.05, Pearson correlation analysis).

Conclusions

Our results suggest that serum BDNF levels are low in depression. However it was not found association between serum BDNF levels and the severity of depression.