Abstract
Serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) reflects state changes in mood disorders. But its relation to brain changes in depression has rarely been investigated in humans. We assessed the association between serum BDNF, cortical thickness, or gray matter volume in 20 subjects with a minor depressive episode and 40 matched healthy subjects. Serum BDNF positively correlated with cortical thickness and volume in multiple brain regions in the minor depression group: the bilateral medial orbitofrontal cortex and rostral anterior cingulate cortex, left insula, and cingulum, right superior frontal gyrus, and other regions—regions typically affected by major depression. Interestingly, these correlations were driven by subjects with first episode depression. There was no significant association between these imaging parameters and serum BDNF in the healthy control group. Interaction analyses supported this finding. Our findings point to a specific association between serum BDNF and magnetic resonance imaging parameters in first-episode minor depression in a region- and condition-dependent manner. A positive correlation between serum BDNF and structural gray matter estimates was most consistently observed for cortical thickness. We discuss why cortical thickness should be preferred to volumetric estimates for such analyses in future studies. Results of our pilot study have to be proven in future larger-scale studies yielding higher statistical power.
Highlights
We observed a positive correlation between serum BDNF measurements and structural gray matter estimates in minor depression
Received: 6 March 2020; Accepted: 10 August 2020
Summary
Twenty subjects satisfying DSM-IV criteria for minor depressive episode were selected from the database of the population-based LIFE-Adult study. In accordance with Structured Psychiatric Interview for DSM-IV Disorders (SKID), every subject had one to four depressive symptoms for at least two weeks, with depressed mood or loss of interest being one of them. Forty healthy volunteers from the same study were free from depressive symptoms or cognitive impairment and were matched at a 1:2 ratio by sex and age to the subjects with minor depression. The study was carried out in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Ethics Committee of the University of Leipzig.
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