Plasma Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor in treatment-resistant depressed patients receiving electroconvulsive therapy
Abstract
There is an increasing evidence that the Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) could be involved in the mode of action of antidepressants and, perhaps, of ECT. This study aimed to investigate whether the clinical course of medication-resistant depressed patients following a course of ECT might be associated with changes of plasma BDNF concentrations. Our findings showed that at T0 (baseline) plasma BDNF levels of patients were significantly lower than those of control subjects, and that at T2 (after ECT) were significantly increased in parallel with the decrease of the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD) total score. However, only remitter patients who showed higher baseline BDNF levels than non-remitters reached normalized BDNF levels after ECT. These findings would suggest the potential usefulness of baseline plasma BDNF levels as predictors of response to ECT in treatment-resistant depressed patients.
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Postmortem studies revealed that treatment-resistant MDD patients have significantly lower BDNF levels, especially in BDNF-rich brain structures, such as the hippocampus.
“Postmortem studies revealed that these treatment-resistant patients have significantly lower BDNF levels, especially in BDNF-rich brain structures, such as the hippocampus [68–70].”
From Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor in Brain Disorders: Focus on Neuroinflammation (2019) · cites this paper as [69]
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“That high BDNF at treatment onset may improve treatment efficacy in some cases is also supported by a study in which treatment resistant depressed subjects were treated with ECT, which found that high baseline BDNF was associated with remission (Piccinni et al., 2009).”
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- Authors
- Piccinni, A., Del Debbio, A., Medda, P., Bianchi, C., Roncaglia, I., Veltri, A., Zanello, S., Massimetti, E., Origlia, N., & Domenici, L.
- Affiliations
- University of Pisa (IT)
- Neuroscience Institute (IT)
- University of L'Aquila (IT)
- Venue
- European Neuropsychopharmacology
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2009-05
- Volume
- 19
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 349-355
- ISSN
- 0924-977X (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2086221605
- Cited by
- 120
- References
- 62
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 3 · 2024: 3 · 2023: 5 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 4 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 8 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 10 · 2014: 7 · 2013: 6 · 2012: 12
- FWCI
- 6.79
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- European Neuropsychopharmacology (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- CINECA IRIS Institutial research information system (University of Pisa) (submittedVersion)
- Archivio Istituzionale della Ricerca - Università degli Studi dell Aquila (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Università di Pisa
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Psychiatry and Mental health › Electroconvulsive Therapy Studies
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Pharmacology › Treatment of Major Depression
- Life Sciences › Neuroscience › Neurology › Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Studies
- Keywords
- brain-derived neurotrophic factor, plasma BDNF, electroconvulsive therapy, treatment-resistant depression, antidepressant mechanism, treatment response prediction, remission, Hamilton Depression Rating Scale
- MeSH terms
- Adult, Major Depressive Disorder, Electroconvulsive Therapy, Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, Psychiatric Status Rating Scales, Treatment Outcome, Statistics, Nonparametric, Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor
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