PMID- 24362070 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 20140827 LR - 20140115 IS - 1090-2147 (Electronic) IS - 0278-2626 (Linking) VI - 84 IP - 1 DP - 2014 Feb TI - BDNF serum levels in subjects developing or not post-traumatic stress disorder after trauma exposure. PG - 118-22 LID - S0278-2626(13)00175-9 [pii] LID - 10.1016/j.bandc.2013.11.012 [doi] AB - Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a syndrome resulting from exposure to a severe traumatic event that poses threatened death or injury and produces intense fear and helplessness. The neural structures implicated in PTSD development belong to the limbic system, an important region for emotional processing. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a neurotrophin that serves as survival factor for selected populations of central nervous system (CNS) neurons and plays a role in the limbic system by regulating synaptic plasticity, memory processes and behavior. Impaired BDNF production in the brain can lead to a variety of CNS dysfunctions including symptoms associated with PTSD. However, so far fewer studies have investigated this neurotrophin in patients with PTSD. Furthermore, given the multiple role of BDNF in various CNS disorders, it cannot be excluded that traumatic events per se may influence neurotrophin levels, without a direct association to the PTSD syndrome. To elucidate these issues, in this study we analyzed BDNF serum levels in two groups of subjects: patients with trauma exposure who developed PTSD, and subjects with trauma exposure who did not develop PTSD. We found that BDNF serum levels were lower in PTSD patients as compared to related control subjects. Thus, these data suggest that BDNF might be involved in pathophysiology of PTSD and consequently therapeutic approaches aimed at restoring BDNF serum levels may be beneficial to this pathology. CI - Copyright (c) 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. FAU - Angelucci, Francesco AU - Angelucci F AD - IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Department of Clinical and Behavioural Neurology, 00179 Rome, Italy. Electronic address: f.angelucci@hsantalucia.it. FAU - Ricci, Valerio AU - Ricci V AD - IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Department of Clinical and Behavioural Neurology, 00179 Rome, Italy. FAU - Gelfo, Francesca AU - Gelfo F AD - IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Department of Clinical and Behavioural Neurology, 00179 Rome, Italy. FAU - Martinotti, Giovanni AU - Martinotti G AD - Department of Neuroscience and Imaging, University "G.d'Annunzio", Chieti, Italy. FAU - Brunetti, Marcella AU - Brunetti M AD - Department of Neuroscience and Imaging, University "G.d'Annunzio", Chieti, Italy. FAU - Sepede, Gianna AU - Sepede G AD - Department of Neuroscience and Imaging, University "G.d'Annunzio", Chieti, Italy. FAU - Signorelli, Maria AU - Signorelli M AD - Department of Psychiatry, University of Catania, Italy. FAU - Aguglia, Eugenio AU - Aguglia E AD - Department of Psychiatry, University of Catania, Italy. FAU - Pettorruso, Mauro AU - Pettorruso M AD - Department of Neuroscience, Catholic University of Rome, Italy. FAU - Vellante, Federica AU - Vellante F AD - Department of Neuroscience and Imaging, University "G.d'Annunzio", Chieti, Italy. FAU - Di Giannantonio, Massimo AU - Di Giannantonio M AD - Department of Neuroscience and Imaging, University "G.d'Annunzio", Chieti, Italy. FAU - Caltagirone, Carlo AU - Caltagirone C AD - IRCCS Santa Lucia Foundation, Department of Clinical and Behavioural Neurology, 00179 Rome, Italy. LA - eng PT - Journal Article PT - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't DEP - 20131221 PL - United States TA - Brain Cogn JT - Brain and cognition JID - 8218014 RN - 0 (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor) SB - IM MH - Adult MH - Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor/*blood MH - Female MH - Humans MH - Male MH - Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic/*blood MH - Trauma Severity Indices OTO - NOTNLM OT - BDNF OT - ELISA OT - Post-traumatic stress disorder OT - Trauma exposure EDAT- 2013/12/24 06:00 MHDA- 2014/08/29 06:00 CRDT- 2013/12/24 06:00 PHST- 2013/07/10 00:00 [received] PHST- 2013/10/24 00:00 [revised] PHST- 2013/11/25 00:00 [accepted] PHST- 2013/12/24 06:00 [entrez] PHST- 2013/12/24 06:00 [pubmed] PHST- 2014/08/29 06:00 [medline] AID - S0278-2626(13)00175-9 [pii] AID - 10.1016/j.bandc.2013.11.012 [doi] PST - ppublish SO - Brain Cogn. 2014 Feb;84(1):118-22. doi: 10.1016/j.bandc.2013.11.012. Epub 2013 Dec 21.