Department of Psychiatry, Nihon University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
PLoS One. 2018 Jun 26;13(6):e0199765. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0199765. eCollection 2018.
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is widely expressed in the brain and plays an important role in neuronal maintenance, plasticity, and neurogenesis. Prior studies have found that decreased serum BDNF levels are associated with perceived stress, depression, or sleep disturbances in humans.
To elucidate whether the serum BDNF levels and BDNF genotype were associated with the sleep pattern in healthy young adults.
The study group consisted of 79 healthy paid volunteers (45 men, 34 women) aged 20 to 29 years. Serum BDNF levels were measured with an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and a single-nucleotide polymorphism (Val66Met) in the BDNF gene was assessed with a TaqMan assay. Details of the sleep pattern were obtained from 1-week sleep/wake records.
Serum BDNF levels were significantly associated with sleep parameters on weekends, whereas no such association was found on weekdays. On weekends, longer total sleep time and time in bed, and later mid-sleep time were associated with lower serum BDNF levels. The difference between mid-sleep time on weekdays and that on weekends, otherwise known as social jetlag, was negatively associated with serum BDNF levels. Met/Met homozygotes of the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism had significantly longer time in bed on weekends than Val/Val homozygotes. Heterozygotes did not differ from Val/Val homozygotes.
We first found that serum BDNF levels and the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism in healthy young adults were associated with the sleep pattern on weekends but not with that on weekdays, suggesting that the systems involved in BDNF control may be linked to endogenous sleep characteristics rather than the socially constrained sleep schedule in healthy young adults.
脑源性神经营养因子（BDNF）广泛表达于大脑中，在神经元维持、可塑性和神经发生中发挥着重要作用。先前的研究发现，血清 BDNF 水平降低与人类的感知压力、抑郁或睡眠障碍有关。
阐明健康年轻成年人的血清 BDNF 水平和 BDNF 基因型是否与睡眠模式有关。
研究组由 79 名健康的有偿志愿者（45 名男性，34 名女性）组成，年龄在 20 至 29 岁之间。采用酶联免疫吸附试验测定血清 BDNF 水平，采用 TaqMan 检测法评估 BDNF 基因中的单核苷酸多态性（Val66Met）。通过 1 周的睡眠/觉醒记录获取睡眠模式的详细信息。
血清 BDNF 水平与周末的睡眠参数显著相关，而在工作日则无此关联。在周末，总睡眠时间和卧床时间较长，以及入睡时间较晚，与血清 BDNF 水平较低有关。工作日和周末之间的入睡时间差异，即社会时差，与血清 BDNF 水平呈负相关。BDNF Val66Met 多态性的 Met/Met 纯合子在周末的卧床时间明显长于 Val/Val 纯合子。杂合子与 Val/Val 纯合子无差异。
我们首次发现，健康年轻成年人的血清 BDNF 水平和 BDNF Val66Met 多态性与周末的睡眠模式有关，而与工作日的睡眠模式无关，这表明 BDNF 调控系统可能与内源性睡眠特征有关，而与健康年轻成年人受社会限制的睡眠时间表无关。
