Kurdi Fauziah Nuraini, Flora Rostika
Department of Rehabilitation Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Sriwijaya University, Palembang, Indonesia.
Faculty of Public Health, Sriwijaya University, Palembang, Indonesia.
Open Access Maced J Med Sci. 2019 Jul 12;7(13):2057-2061. doi: 10.3889/oamjms.2019.574. eCollection 2019 Jul 15.
Depression is very common in the elderly population. Physical exercise is one of the non-pharmacological procedures that promise to be a solution to improve the severity of depression. Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) plays a role in maintaining the survival of neuronal cells and in the regulation of synapse plasticity, affecting serotonin production in the hippocampus and thus the depressive symptoms.
This study aimed to assess the role of physical exercise in affecting BDNF levels in elderly with depression.
Thirty-five elderly women (age ≥ 50 years) with depressive episodes based on Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM)-V criteria were enrolled as treatment group, and 35 elderly women without depressive episodes were enrolled as control group, and underwent physical exercise in the form of treadmill with a speed of 6 km/h for 15 minutes. Physical exercise was carried out once a day for 28 days. As much as 1 ml of blood from the study, subjects were obtained from the cubital vein before the exercise commenced. Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) serum level was assessed by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA). Data were presented in the form of mean ± SD. An independent T-test was used to test levels after exercise in the depression group compared to the non-depression group.
Pre-exercise BDNF levels in the depression group were lower than the group of elderly without depression. Physical exercise increased BDNF production in both elderly groups with and without depression. In the depression group, the increasing percentage of BDNF level was higher compared to non-depressive elderly.
The increasing percentage of BDNF level was found to be higher in depressive elderly performing physical exercise. Physical exercise may be beneficial in supporting the therapy of elderly with depression.
抑郁症在老年人群中非常常见。体育锻炼是有望改善抑郁症严重程度的非药物治疗方法之一。脑源性神经营养因子（BDNF）在维持神经元细胞存活和调节突触可塑性方面发挥作用，影响海马体中血清素的产生，进而影响抑郁症状。
本研究旨在评估体育锻炼对老年抑郁症患者BDNF水平的影响。
根据《精神疾病诊断与统计手册》（DSM）-Ⅴ标准，将35名患有抑郁发作的老年女性（年龄≥50岁）纳入治疗组，35名无抑郁发作的老年女性纳入对照组，进行速度为6公里/小时的跑步机运动，持续15分钟。体育锻炼每天进行1次，共28天。在运动开始前，从研究对象的肘静脉采集1毫升血液。采用酶联免疫吸附测定（ELISA）法评估脑源性神经营养因子（BDNF）血清水平。数据以平均值±标准差的形式呈现。采用独立样本t检验比较抑郁组和非抑郁组运动后的水平。
抑郁组运动前的BDNF水平低于无抑郁的老年组。体育锻炼使有抑郁和无抑郁的老年组的BDNF产生均增加。在抑郁组中，BDNF水平的升高百分比高于非抑郁老年组。
发现进行体育锻炼的抑郁老年患者BDNF水平的升高百分比更高。体育锻炼可能有助于支持老年抑郁症患者的治疗。
