Department of Psychiatry, The First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, China.
Department of Psychiatry, The First Affiliated Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang, Liaoning, China.
J Affect Disord. 2019 Feb 15;245:602-607. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2018.11.068. Epub 2018 Nov 4.
Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) as a neurotrophic factor closely related to depression is able to promote the growth, proliferation, differentiation, and survival of multiple neurons. Clinical features, recurrence rates and suicide rates are significant different in major depressive disorder (MDD) according to age. GDNF level changes in the peripheral blood has been reported in patients with MDD. In this study, we aimed to investigate whether GDNF levels differentiated within various age groups and its relationship with age/clinical severity.
MDD subjects and healthy controls (HC) are divided into younger (age 13-24 years) group (yMDD n = 35, yHC n = 44) and older (age 25-45 years) group (oMDD n = 30, oHC n = 55) based on the age of brain maturity. Clinical symptom severity was evaluated by the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-17) and the Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale (HAMA-17). The levels of plasma GDNF were compared within subgroups.
Plasma GDNF levels in yMDD patients were significantly decreased compared to yHC (yMDD 1.55 ± 0.46pg/ml, yHC 1.77 ± 0.47pg/ml, p < 0.05). Moreover, such difference was not found between oMDD group and oHC group. Our results also showed negative correlations between plasma GDNF levels and HAMD/HAMA scores (r = -0.33, p < 0.05; r = -0.39, p < 0.05).
This study was underpowered to observe dynamic changes between age and GDNF in MDD due to the cross-sectional design of present study. We also failed to divided subjects into more age groups because of moderate sample size.
The present result showed the level of protective neurotrophic factor GDNF associated with age in MDD, suggesting a relevance between GDNF and MDD subjects abnormal brain development in adolescent and young adult period.
胶质细胞源性神经营养因子（GDNF）作为一种与抑郁密切相关的神经营养因子，能够促进多种神经元的生长、增殖、分化和存活。根据年龄的不同，重性抑郁障碍（MDD）的临床特征、复发率和自杀率存在显著差异。已有研究报道，MDD 患者外周血中的 GDNF 水平发生了变化。在这项研究中，我们旨在探讨 GDNF 水平是否在不同年龄组之间存在差异，及其与年龄/临床严重程度的关系。
根据大脑成熟年龄，将 MDD 患者和健康对照者（HC）分为年轻（13-24 岁）组（yMDD n=35，yHC n=44）和年长（25-45 岁）组（oMDD n=30，oHC n=55）。采用汉密尔顿抑郁量表（HAMD-17）和汉密尔顿焦虑量表（HAMA-17）评估临床症状严重程度。比较亚组内的血浆 GDNF 水平。
与 yHC 相比，yMDD 患者的血浆 GDNF 水平显著降低（yMDD 1.55±0.46pg/ml，yHC 1.77±0.47pg/ml，p<0.05）。此外，oMDD 组和 oHC 组之间没有发现这种差异。我们的结果还显示，血浆 GDNF 水平与 HAMD/HAMA 评分呈负相关（r=-0.33，p<0.05；r=-0.39，p<0.05）。
由于本研究为横断面设计，样本量适中，因此无法观察 MDD 中年龄和 GDNF 之间的动态变化。
本研究结果显示，与年龄相关的保护性神经营养因子 GDNF 在 MDD 中存在差异，提示 GDNF 与 MDD 患者青少年和成年期大脑发育异常有关。
