
What is the role of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in stroke recovery?
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Learn More...What does low serum BDNF mean in stroke patients?
Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) and its rs6265 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) play an important role in post-stroke recovery.
Can BDNF predict outcome in acute ischemic stroke?
Yang L., Zhang Z., Sun D., Xu Z., Yuan Y., Zhang X. Low serum BDNF may indicate the development of PSD in patients with acute ischemic stroke. Int. J. Geriatr. Psychiatry. 2011; 26 :495–502. doi: 10.1002/gps.2552.
Does BDNF Rs6265 play a role in stroke recovery?
Lasek Bal and colleagues studied the efficacy of BDNF as a potential predictor of outcome in patients with acute ischemic stroke [ 31 ]. Both the NIHSS and BDNF were measured during the first day of stroke.

What are the effects of decreasing BDNF?
Loss of BDNF contributes to decreases in expression of synaptic proteins, which gradually leads to synapse loss. The loss of synaptic connections may compromise the ability of neurons to adapt to environmental changes resulting in increased susceptibility to degeneration.
What is BDNF deficiency?
Deficiency of activity-induced expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) disturbs neurotransmitter gene expression. Enriched environment treatment (EET) ameliorates the defects. However, how BDNF deficiency and EET affect the neurotransmitter gene expression differently across ages remains unclear.
What are the effects of BDNF?
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor regulates glucose and energy metabolism and prevents exhaustion of β cells. Decreased levels of BDNF are associated with neurodegenerative diseases with neuronal loss, such as Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis and Huntington's disease.
Does BDNF repair the brain?
The brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is the most abundant neurotrophin in the adult brain, which possesses a remarkable capability to repair brain damage.
What is the role of BDNF in the brain?
Normal Function The BDNF gene provides instructions for making a protein found in the brain and spinal cord called brain-derived neurotrophic factor. This protein promotes the survival of nerve cells (neurons) by playing a role in the growth, maturation (differentiation), and maintenance of these cells.
What stimulates BDNF release?
Positive AMPA receptor modulation rapidly stimulates BDNF release and increases dendritic mRNA translation. J Neurosci. 2009 Jul 8;29(27):8688-97.
Where is BDNF found in the brain?
In the brain it is active in the hippocampus, cortex, and basal forebrain—areas vital to learning, memory, and higher thinking. BDNF is also expressed in the retina, kidneys, prostate, motor neurons, and skeletal muscle, and is also found in saliva. BDNF itself is important for long-term memory.
Can BDNF cross the blood brain barrier?
There have been reports that BDNF can cross the blood–brain barrier (Pan et al., 1998) and positive correlations between peripheral BDNF protein levels and brain levels have been reported in rodents (Karege et al., 2002a,b), suggesting that peripheral BDNF levels may reflect BDNF levels in the brain.
How does BDNF improve executive function?
BDNF facilitates neural repair (Yang et al., 2014), induces long-term potentiation (Diógenes et al., 2011), enhances learning and memory (Pang and Lu, 2004; Bekinschtein et al., 2014), and promotes synaptic plasticity and neurogenesis (Oliff et al., 1998; Lu, 2003; Vaynman et al., 2004).
How can I increase my BDNF brain?
Physical exercise has been consistently shown to increase levels of BDNF mRNA and protein expression in the hypothalamus, striatum and other cortical areas [27]. Further, the increases in serum BDNF levels following exercise have been shown to be intensity-dependent.
How do you test for BDNF?
Recent studies suggest that circulating concentrations of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) have potential for the diagnosis of endometriosis. However, at present, BDNF can only be measured by ELISA, which requires a clinic visit, a routine blood sample, and laboratory testing.
What are the benefits of BDNF?
BDNF helps the brain to develop new connections, repair failing brain cells, and protect healthy brain cells. Maintaining adequate levels of the power-packed protein can protect our brains from neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's Disease and Parkinson's Disease.
What is the role of BDNF in stroke?
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor and post-stroke depression. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is well known to play a critical role in cognition. Its role in mood disorders, including post stroke depression (PSD), is also recognized with more evidence surfacing. In patients with PSD, their serum BNDF level is lower than in those without ...
What is BDNF in psychology?
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is well known to play a critical role in cognition. Its role in mood disorders, including post stroke depression (PSD), is also recognized with more evidence surfacing. In patients with PSD, their serum BNDF level is lower than in those without depression. Fu …. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor and ...
Does stroke cause depression?
In PSD patients, the presence of stroke may contribute to the development of depression, including affecting the expression of BDNF. However, the mechanisms of BDNF in the development of PSD remain largely unknown.
Can a stroke downregulate BDNF?
Meanwhile, the hypoxic environment induced by stroke could possibly downregulate BDNF expression in the brain. Current antidepressant treatments are not specific for PSD and there is a lack of treatments to address the linkage between stroke and PSD. This review summarizes the current knowledge of BDNF in PSD.
What is BDNF in neuroscience?
Background and Purpose— Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is involved in neuronal survival, synaptic plasticity, learning and memory, and neuroplasticity. Further, exogenous treatment with BDNF or exposing animals to enrichment and exercise regimens, which also increase BDNF, enhances behavioral recovery after brain injury. Thus, the beneficial effects of rehabilitation in promoting recovery after stroke may also depend on BDNF. We tested this hypothesis by evaluating the contribution of BDNF to motor skill relearning after endothelin-1–induced middle cerebral artery occlusion in rats.
How long did rats run before focal ischemia?
One week before focal ischemia, animals were oriented to both the motorized running wheel and the rehabilitation reaching apparatus twice daily for 2 days. Rats ran for 10 minutes at a speed of 5.5 meters per minute in the running wheel (diameter, 360 mm; width, 130 mm) and received 30 minutes of reach training in the reaching apparatus (tray height, 60 mm).
How long after ischemia can rats be anesthetized?
Four days after ischemia, rats were anesthetized as described and placed in a stereotaxic frame. A hole was drilled at anterior-posterior −8.0 mm, medial-lateral 1.5 mm from Bregma, contralateral to ischemic hemisphere. A cannula was inserted into the lateral cerebral ventricle at a depth of 4.0 mm and secured with dental cement. Osmotic mini-pumps (Model 2004; Alzet) were filled with either antisense BDNF oligonucleotide (sequence 5′-TCT TCC CCT TTT GGT-3′; IDT) or saline vehicle, attached to the cannula via polyvinylchloride tubing (≈150 mm length; Brain Infusion Kit 2; Alzet), and placed subcutaneously between the scapulae. Antisense oligonucleotide dissolved in sterile saline (100 nm/200 μL) or saline vehicle was released at a rate of 0.25 μL per hour for 28 days. 21 Pumps, cannulae, and tubing were assembled under sterile conditions and were weighed both before and after filling to ensure the pumps were accurately filled.
How long after focal ischemia in the staircase and cylinder tasks?
Functional outcome was assessed 2, 3, and 4 weeks after focal ischemia in the staircase and cylinder tasks. A foraging test was administered at 4 weeks to evaluate whether rats demonstrated normal latencies to explore and obtain 10 food pellets scattered evenly over the floor of a clean animal cage. The time required to find and eat all pellets was recorded. 21,26
What are the risk factors for BDNF?
Presence of risk factors/comorbidities such as 1) hypertension, 2) diabetes mellitus, 3) diabetes + hypertension, 4) alcohol, and 5) smoking. 3. Assessment of serum levels of BDNF. BDNF blood concentration on the first day of admission (before PNF) was estimated.
What is PNF in stroke?
PNF is a neurophysiological approach that facilitates the stimulation of central and peripheral nervous systems. In this study, our aim was to assess the levels of BDNF as well as functional recovery before and after the intervention of PNF in patients with acute stroke. Methods:
Does PNF improve functional activity?
This suggests that PNF improves the functional activity in all age groups. According to the earlier studies, elderly patients are at higher risk of poor functional outcome, mortality, and prolonged hospital stay. In our study, we observed that there was equal recovery irrespective all these factors in the elderly.
What is the role of BDNF in the brain?
BDNF is a member of the neurotrophin family, known for its role in neuronal proliferation, survival and differentiation ( 1 ). Along with its receptor tyrosine kinase, this neurotrophin is largely distributed throughout the healthy human brain ( 5, 6 ).
Is BDNF a neurotrophic factor?
Recent studies have highlighted BDNF as an important neurotrophic factor involved in motor learning, recovery and neural rehabilitation after a stroke ( 7, 8, 36 ). The current review illustrates the consistencies and discrepancies in the literature regarding the response of BDNF concentrations following physical exercise training in subjects post-stroke or animals submitted to experimental CNS injury. It is worth mentioning that, although some investigations in humans have been performed recently, much of the understanding of changes in the BDNF concentration with exercise derives from animal studies. For example, only one study included in this review was completed in human subjects ( 19 ).
Does treadmill training increase BDNF?
Aerobic exercise, such as treadmill training, is continually used in rehabilitation due to its effectiveness in improving function, mobility and cardiovascular fitness in patients with chronic stroke ( 37 – 39 ). Generally, this review shows that aerobic exercise is able to promote changes in central BDNF concentrations in animal models of stroke. These results are in accordance with a previous systematic review showing that forced exercise at moderate to high intensity increases BDNF in multiple brain regions in animal models of stroke ( 8 ). However, the brain area where these changes occur varied among the studies included in the current review ( 14 – 16, 19, 21 – 28 ). Both ipsilateral and/or contralateral changes in BDNF concentrations were found in the studies, and the most common brain areas evaluated were hippocampus, striatum and motor cortex. For example, Quirie et al. ( 25) evaluated the effect of treadmill training on central BDNF concentrations and, as compared to the striatum and the hippocampus, the cortex showed the greatest increase in BDNF following training. Other authors, however, observed a stronger increase in BDNF concentrations in the hippocampus following treadmill training ( 28 ). The different findings might be related to the time after the end of training session at which the BDNF was measured. It seems that when measured immediately after the last treatment session, the hippocampus shows higher BDNF levels. More studies are needed to confirm this hypothesis.
Does aerobic exercise increase BDNF?
The results of the current systematic review highlight that aerobic exercise can promote changes in central BDNF concentrations in animal models of stroke, while BDNF responses following non-aerobic exercises, such as reaching training and CIMT, are still controversial.
