PMID- 23133609
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20130507
LR  - 20240318
IS  - 1932-6203 (Electronic)
IS  - 1932-6203 (Linking)
VI  - 7
IP  - 11
DP  - 2012
TI  - Serum BDNF concentrations show strong seasonal variation and correlations with 
      the amount of ambient sunlight.
PG  - e48046
LID - 10.1371/journal.pone.0048046 [doi]
LID - e48046
AB  - Earlier findings show seasonality in processes and behaviors such as brain 
      plasticity and depression that in part are regulated by Brain-Derived 
      Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF). Based on this we investigated seasonal variation in 
      serum BDNF concentrations in 2,851 persons who took part in the Netherlands Study 
      of Depression and Anxiety (NESDA). Analyses by month of sampling (monthly n's 
      >196) showed pronounced seasonal variation in serum BDNF concentrations (P<.0001) 
      with increasing concentrations in the spring-summer period (standardized 
      regression weight (ss) = 0.19, P<.0001) and decreasing concentrations in the 
      autumn-winter period (ss = -0.17, P<.0001). Effect sizes [Cohen's d] ranged from 
      0.27 to 0.66 for monthly significant differences. We found similar seasonal 
      variation for both sexes and for persons with a DSM-IV depression diagnosis and 
      healthy control subjects. In explorative analyses we found that the number of 
      sunshine hours (a major trigger to entrain seasonality) in the week of blood 
      withdrawal and the 10 weeks prior to this event positively correlated with serum 
      BDNF concentrations (Pearson's correlation coefficients ranged: 0.05-0.18) and 
      this could partly explain the observed monthly variation. These results provide 
      strong evidence that serum BDNF concentrations systematically vary over the year. 
      This finding is important for our understanding of those factors that regulate 
      BDNF expression and may provide novel avenues to understand seasonal dependent 
      changes in behavior and illness such as depression. Finally, the findings 
      reported here should be taken into account when designing and interpreting 
      studies on BDNF.
FAU - Molendijk, Marc L
AU  - Molendijk ML
AD  - Institute of Psychology, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands. 
      molendijkml@fsw.leidenuniv.nl
FAU - Haffmans, Judith P M
AU  - Haffmans JP
FAU - Bus, Boudewijn A A
AU  - Bus BA
FAU - Spinhoven, Philip
AU  - Spinhoven P
FAU - Penninx, Brenda W J H
AU  - Penninx BW
FAU - Prickaerts, Jos
AU  - Prickaerts J
FAU - Oude Voshaar, Richard C
AU  - Oude Voshaar RC
FAU - Elzinga, Bernet M
AU  - Elzinga BM
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PT  - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
DEP - 20121102
PL  - United States
TA  - PLoS One
JT  - PloS one
JID - 101285081
RN  - 0 (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor)
SB  - IM
MH  - Adult
MH  - Anxiety/*blood
MH  - Body Mass Index
MH  - Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor/*blood
MH  - Case-Control Studies
MH  - Depression/*blood
MH  - Female
MH  - Humans
MH  - Male
MH  - Middle Aged
MH  - Netherlands
MH  - Regression Analysis
MH  - *Seasons
MH  - *Sunlight
MH  - Time Factors
PMC - PMC3487856
COIS- Competing Interests: The authors have the following interest. Dr. Judith P.M. 
      Haffmans is employed as a clinician by a semi-commercial company, the 
      Parnassia-BAVO Group, the Hague, the Netherlands. There are no patents, products 
      in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter the authors' 
      adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials, as detailed 
      online in the guide for authors.
EDAT- 2012/11/08 06:00
MHDA- 2013/05/08 06:00
PMCR- 2012/11/02
CRDT- 2012/11/08 06:00
PHST- 2012/09/04 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2012/09/20 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2012/11/08 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2012/11/08 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2013/05/08 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2012/11/02 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - PONE-D-12-27229 [pii]
AID - 10.1371/journal.pone.0048046 [doi]
PST - ppublish
SO  - PLoS One. 2012;7(11):e48046. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0048046. Epub 2012 Nov 2.