PMID- 24146812
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20140724
LR  - 20211021
IS  - 1932-6203 (Electronic)
IS  - 1932-6203 (Linking)
VI  - 8
IP  - 10
DP  - 2013
TI  - The interplay of stress and sleep impacts BDNF level.
PG  - e76050
LID - 10.1371/journal.pone.0076050 [doi]
LID - e76050
AB  - BACKGROUND: Sleep plays a pivotal role in normal biological functions. Sleep loss 
      results in higher stress vulnerability and is often found in mental disorders. 
      There is evidence that brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) could be a 
      central player in this relationship. Recently, we could demonstrate that subjects 
      suffering from current symptoms of insomnia exhibited significantly decreased 
      serum BDNF levels compared with sleep-healthy controls. In accordance with the 
      paradigm indicating a link between sleep and BDNF, we aimed to investigate if the 
      stress system influences the association between sleep and BDNF. 
      METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Participants with current symptoms of insomnia 
      plus a former diagnosis of Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS) and/or Periodic Limb 
      Movement (PLM) and sleep healthy controls were included in the study. They 
      completed questionnaires on sleep (ISI, Insomnia Severity Index) and stress (PSS, 
      Perceived Stress Scale) and provided a blood sample for determination of serum 
      BDNF. We found a significant interaction between stress and insomnia with an 
      impact on serum BDNF levels. Moreover, insomnia severity groups and score on the 
      PSS each revealed a significant main effect on serum BDNF levels. Insomnia 
      severity was associated with increased stress experience affecting serum BDNF 
      levels. Of note, the association between stress and BDNF was only observed in 
      subjects without insomnia. Using a mediation model, sleep was revealed as a 
      mediator of the association between stress experience and serum BDNF levels. 
      CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to show that the interplay between stress 
      and sleep impacts BDNF levels, suggesting an important role of this relationship 
      in the pathogenesis of stress-associated mental disorders. Hence, we suggest 
      sleep as a key mediator at the connection between stress and BDNF. Whether sleep 
      is maintained or disturbed might explain why some individuals are able to handle 
      a certain stress load while others develop a mental disorder.
FAU - Giese, Maria
AU  - Giese M
AD  - Neurobiology Laboratory for Brain Aging and Mental Health, Psychiatric University 
      Clinics, University of Basel, Basel, Switzerland ; Transfaculty Research 
      Platform, Molecular and Cognitive Neuroscience, Univ. of Basel, Basel, 
      Switzerland.
FAU - Unternaehrer, Eva
AU  - Unternaehrer E
FAU - Brand, Serge
AU  - Brand S
FAU - Calabrese, Pasquale
AU  - Calabrese P
FAU - Holsboer-Trachsler, Edith
AU  - Holsboer-Trachsler E
FAU - Eckert, Anne
AU  - Eckert A
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
DEP - 20131016
PL  - United States
TA  - PLoS One
JT  - PloS one
JID - 101285081
RN  - 0 (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor)
RN  - 7171WSG8A2 (BDNF protein, human)
SB  - IM
MH  - Adult
MH  - Aged
MH  - Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor/*blood
MH  - Case-Control Studies
MH  - Female
MH  - Humans
MH  - Male
MH  - Middle Aged
MH  - Nocturnal Myoclonus Syndrome/*blood/physiopathology
MH  - Polysomnography
MH  - Restless Legs Syndrome/*blood/physiopathology
MH  - Severity of Illness Index
MH  - Sleep/physiology
MH  - Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders/*blood/physiopathology
MH  - *Stress, Physiological
MH  - Surveys and Questionnaires
PMC - PMC3797810
COIS- Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
EDAT- 2013/10/23 06:00
MHDA- 2014/07/25 06:00
PMCR- 2013/10/16
CRDT- 2013/10/23 06:00
PHST- 2013/06/19 00:00 [received]
PHST- 2013/08/20 00:00 [accepted]
PHST- 2013/10/23 06:00 [entrez]
PHST- 2013/10/23 06:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2014/07/25 06:00 [medline]
PHST- 2013/10/16 00:00 [pmc-release]
AID - PONE-D-13-25511 [pii]
AID - 10.1371/journal.pone.0076050 [doi]
PST - epublish
SO  - PLoS One. 2013 Oct 16;8(10):e76050. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0076050. 
      eCollection 2013.