Hammans Christine, Neugebauer Kristina, Kumar Vinod, Mevissen Lea, Sternkopf Melanie A, Novakovic Ana, Wensing Tobias, Habel Ute, Abel Ted, Nickl-Jockschat Thomas
Department of Psychiatry, Psychotherapy and Psychosomatics, Faculty of Medicine, RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany.
JARA - Translational Brain Medicine, Jülich-Aachen Research Alliance, Jülich, Germany.
Front Psychiatry. 2020 Feb 21;11:31. doi: 10.3389/fpsyt.2020.00031. eCollection 2020.
Brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia. As BDNF regulates axonal and dendritic growth, altered BDNF levels in schizophrenia patients might underlie changes in structural connectivity that have been identified by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). We investigated a possible correlation between BDNF serum levels, fiber tract architecture, and regional grey matter volumes in 19 schizophrenia patients and a gender- and age-matched control group. Two patients had to be excluded due to abnormalities in their MRI scans. Serum samples were obtained to determine BDNF levels, and T1- as well as diffusion-weighted sequences were acquired. We, then, investigated correlations between BDNF serum levels with neuroimaging parameters, using Voxel-based Morphometry (VBM) and Tract-based Spatial Statistics (TBSS). We found a significant negative correlation between BDNF serum levels and FA values in the right inferior fronto-occipital fasciculus and the right superior longitudinal fasciculus. These regions also showed a decrease in AD values in schizophrenia patients. Grey matter volumes were reduced in patients but there was no correlation between regional grey matter volumes and BDNF. The right superior longitudinal fasciculus has been repeatedly identified to exhibit microstructural changes in schizophrenia patients. Our findings of a negative correlation between BDNF and FA values in patients might indicate that BDNF is upregulated to compensate decreased structural connectivity as it induces neural plasticity and shows increased levels in damaged tissue. These findings of our pilot study are encouraging leads for future research in larger samples.
脑源性神经营养因子（BDNF）与精神分裂症的病理生理学有关。由于BDNF调节轴突和树突的生长，精神分裂症患者体内BDNF水平的改变可能是磁共振成像（MRI）所识别的结构连接性变化的基础。我们调查了19名精神分裂症患者以及性别和年龄匹配的对照组中BDNF血清水平、纤维束结构和区域灰质体积之间可能存在的相关性。两名患者因MRI扫描异常而被排除。采集血清样本以测定BDNF水平，并获取T1加权序列以及扩散加权序列。然后，我们使用基于体素的形态计量学（VBM）和基于束的空间统计学（TBSS）研究了BDNF血清水平与神经影像学参数之间的相关性。我们发现BDNF血清水平与右侧额枕下束和右侧上纵束的FA值之间存在显著负相关。在精神分裂症患者中，这些区域的AD值也有所降低。患者的灰质体积减少，但区域灰质体积与BDNF之间没有相关性。右侧上纵束在精神分裂症患者中反复被发现存在微观结构变化。我们在患者中发现BDNF与FA值之间呈负相关，这可能表明BDNF被上调以补偿结构连接性的降低，因为它可诱导神经可塑性并在受损组织中显示出升高的水平。我们初步研究的这些发现为未来更大样本的研究提供了令人鼓舞的线索。
