Department of Laboratory Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Ansari Nagar 110029, New Delhi, India.
J Affect Disord. 2013 Sep 5;150(2):415-23. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2013.04.033. Epub 2013 Jun 12.
Brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), nerve growth factor (NGF), neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) and glial cell line derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) play critical role in growth, differentiation, maintenance and synaptic plasticity in neuronal systems which is more relevant in adolescence. The present study was undertaken to verify the 'neurotrophin hypothesis' in adolescent depression by (i) comparing serum concentrations of neurotrophic factors in depression patients and healthy control, and (ii) analyzing correlations between clinical severity and serum neurotrophin levels.
Eighty four adolescent (aged 13-18 years) depressed patients (56 males; 60 medication free/naive) and 64 healthy controls (39 males) were recruited. Severity of depression was measured by Beck's depression inventory, and anxiety by state-trait anxiety inventory. Measurement of serum neurotrophins was done by ELISA.
Adolescents with depression had significantly lower levels of BDNF: mean diff. (95% C.I.): 2093.9 (1074.0, 3113.9), NGF: 813.3 (343.1, 1283.6) and GDNF: 158.8 (77.2, 240.4) compared to controls. On gender based analysis female controls had significantly increased trait anxiety scores [-1.1 (-1.8, -0.1)], as compared to control males. In the patient group, female patients had far lower level of NGF: 919.6 (210.9, 1628.3) and NT-3: 1288.8 (145.4, 2432.3) compared to male. BDI-II score showed a statistically significant (p<0.01) negative correlation with all four neurotrophins in male patients while in female patients such negative correlation was observed only with NGF and GDNF (p<0.01).
The study is cross-sectional from a tertiary care hospital.
The novelty of the study lies in its large number of exclusively adolescent depression patients showing significant reduction of BDNF, NGF and GDNF serum levels as compared to controls. A gender bias with much reduction in female has also been recorded.
脑源性神经营养因子（BDNF）、神经生长因子（NGF）、神经营养因子-3（NT-3）和胶质细胞源性神经营养因子（GDNF）在神经元系统的生长、分化、维持和突触可塑性中发挥着关键作用，而这在青春期更为重要。本研究旨在通过（i）比较抑郁症患者和健康对照组的血清神经营养因子浓度，以及（ii）分析临床严重程度与血清神经营养因子水平之间的相关性，来验证青少年抑郁症的“神经营养因子假说”。
招募了 84 名青少年（年龄 13-18 岁）抑郁症患者（56 名男性；60 名无用药/无用药史）和 64 名健康对照组（39 名男性）。采用贝克抑郁量表评估抑郁严重程度，采用状态-特质焦虑量表评估焦虑程度。采用 ELISA 法测定血清神经营养因子水平。
与对照组相比，青少年抑郁症患者的 BDNF 水平明显降低：平均差异（95%置信区间）：2093.9（1074.0，3113.9），NGF：813.3（343.1，1283.6）和 GDNF：158.8（77.2，240.4）。基于性别分析，女性对照组的特质焦虑评分明显升高[-1.1（-1.8，-0.1）]，而对照组男性则没有。在患者组中，女性患者的 NGF 水平明显降低：919.6（210.9，1628.3）和 NT-3：1288.8（145.4，2432.3），而男性患者则没有。男性患者的 BDI-II 评分与所有四种神经营养因子均呈统计学显著负相关（p<0.01），而女性患者仅与 NGF 和 GDNF 呈负相关（p<0.01）。
该研究是从一家三级保健医院进行的横断面研究。
本研究的新颖之处在于，它纳入了大量的青少年抑郁症患者，与对照组相比，这些患者的 BDNF、NGF 和 GDNF 血清水平明显降低。同时还记录到了性别偏见，女性患者的比例明显降低。
