Brain-derived neurotrophic factor serum levels correlate with cognitive performance in Parkinson’s disease patients with mild cognitive impairment

IntroductionDepression is a common psychiatric disorder in Parkinson's disease (PD). It has been proposed that antidepressant drugs may bust brain production of trophic factors, such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and glial cell derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF), an effect associated with improvement of clinical symptoms. However, BDNF and GDNF play also a role in the maintenance of dopaminergic neurons, which undergo to neuronal death during PD course.AimsBased on these findings we explored the hypothesis that PD depressed patients may have altered BDNF or GDNF serum levels and that antidepressant drugs may restore them and potentially have beneficial effects not only for depressive but also parkinsonian symptoms.MethodsWe measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) the serum levels of BDNF and GDNF in depressed PD patients, non depressed PD patients and healthy subjects and correlated them with clinical observations.ResultsWe found:(1)BDNF serum levels were decreased in PD depressed as compared to non depressed patients and control subjects;(2)antidepressant therapy restored BDNF serum levels to those of controls; and(3)antidepressant therapy in association with Parkinson's therapy significantly ameliorated motor performance in PD depressed patients.ConclusionOur data suggest that PD patients are characterized by a reduction of BDNF serum levels and that depression may exacerbate this effect and worse PD symptoms. It is proposed that association between anti-parkinsonian treatment and SSRI could be a good therapeutic chance not only for treating depression in PD but also for improving PD symptoms.

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Faculty Opinions recommendation of Effect of brain-derived neurotrophic factor Val66Met polymorphism and serum levels on the progression of mild cognitive impairment.

Faculty Opinions – Post-Publication Peer Review of the Biomedical Literature ◽

10.3410/f.5386959.5340057 ◽

2010 ◽

Author(s):

Donatella Marazziti

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽

Neurotrophic Factor ◽

Serum Levels ◽

Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor ◽

Val66met Polymorphism

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Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Serum Levels and Hippocampal Volume in Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia due to Alzheimer Disease

Dementia and Geriatric Cognitive Disorders Extra ◽

10.1159/000450601 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 6 (3) ◽

pp. 559-567 ◽

Cited By ~ 27

Author(s):

Ericksen Mielle Borba ◽

Juliana Avila Duarte ◽

Giovana Bristot ◽

Ellen Scotton ◽

Ana Luiza Camozzato ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽

Alzheimer Disease ◽

Neurotrophic Factor ◽

Serum Levels ◽

Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor ◽

Hippocampal Volume ◽

Dementia Patients ◽

Healthy Participants ◽

Volumetric Measures

Background/Aims: Hippocampal atrophy is a recognized biomarker of Alzheimer disease (AD) pathology. Serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) reduction has been associated with neurodegeneration. We aimed to evaluate BDNF serum levels and hippocampal volume in clinical AD (dementia and mild cognitive impairment [MCI]). Methods: Participants were 10 patients with MCI and 13 with dementia due to AD as well as 10 healthy controls. BDNF serum levels were determined by ELISA and volumetric measures with NeuroQuant®. Results: MCI and dementia patients presented lower BDNF serum levels than healthy participants; dementia patients presented a smaller hippocampal volume than MCI patients and healthy participants. Discussion: The findings support that the decrease in BDNF might start before the establishment of neuronal injury expressed by the hippocampal reduction.

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Brain‐derived neurotrophic factor attenuates cognitive impairment and motor deficits in a mouse model of Parkinson's disease

Brain and Behavior ◽

10.1002/brb3.2251 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

E Chang ◽

Jiongmei Wang

Keyword(s):

Parkinson’S Disease ◽

Parkinson's Disease ◽

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Mouse Model ◽

Neurotrophic Factor ◽

Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor ◽

Motor Deficits

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Effective Connectivity in the Limbic System in Parkinson's Disease with Mild Cognitive Impairment

SSRN Electronic Journal ◽

10.2139/ssrn.3506114 ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Binyin Li ◽

Liche Zhou ◽

Wenyan Kang ◽

Lina Zhang ◽

Guanyu Ye ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Parkinson’S Disease ◽

Parkinson's Disease ◽

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽

Limbic System ◽

Effective Connectivity

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Assessment of White Matter Lesions in Parkinson's Disease: Voxel-based Analysis and Tract-based Spatial Statistics Analysis of Parkinson's Disease with Mild Cognitive Impairment

Current Neurovascular Research ◽

10.2174/1567202617666200901181842 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 17 (4) ◽

pp. 480-486

Author(s):

Wei Pu ◽

Xudong Shen ◽

Mingming Huang ◽

Zhiqian Li ◽

Xianchun Zeng ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Parkinson’S Disease ◽

Parkinson's Disease ◽

Cognitive Impairment ◽

Mild Cognitive Impairment ◽

White Matter ◽

Corpus Callosum ◽

Fractional Anisotropy ◽

Spatial Statistics ◽

Diffusion Tensor ◽

Tract Based Spatial Statistics

Objective: Application of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) to explore the changes of FA value in patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) with mild cognitive impairment. Methods: 27 patients with PD were divided into PD with mild cognitive impairment (PD-MCI) group (n = 7) and PD group (n = 20). The original images were processed using voxel-based analysis (VBA) and tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS). Results: The average age of pd-mci group was longer than that of PD group, and the course of disease was longer than that of PD group. Compared with PD group, the voxel based analysis-fractional anisotropy (VBA-FA) values of PD-MCI group decreased in the following areas: bilateral frontal lobe, bilateral temporal lobe, bilateral parietal lobe, bilateral subthalamic nucleus, corpus callosum, and gyrus cingula. Tract-based spatial statistics-fractional anisotropy (TBSS-FA) values in PD-MCI group decreased in bilateral corticospinal tract, anterior cingulum, posterior cingulum, fornix tract, bilateral superior thalamic radiation, corpus callosum(genu, body and splenium), bilateral uncinate fasciculus, bilateral inferior longitudinal fasciculus, bilateral superior longitudinal fasciculus, bilateral superior fronto-occipital fasciculus, bilateral inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus, and bilateral parietal-occipital tracts. The mean age of onset in the PD-MCI group was greater than that in the PD group, and the disease course was longer than that in the PD group. Conclusion: DTI-based VBA and TBSS post-processing methods can detect abnormalities in multiple brain areas and white matter fiber tracts in PD-MCI patients. Impairment of multiple cerebral cortex and white matter fiber pathways may be an important causes of cognitive dysfunction in PD-MCI.

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