Researchers
found that levels of a nerve growth factor were lower in people with depression
or bipolar disorder than in healthy controls. Doctors could potentially use
levels of the growth factor to monitor the effects of antidepressant treatment.
In
adults, a protein called brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) promotes the growth and
survival of nerve cells and is known to play a vital role in learning, memory,
and maintaining brain flexibility, or “plasticity.”
Psychological
stress reduces blood levels of one form of the protein, called mature BDNF
(mBDNF), and low levels are associated with depression.
However,
commercially available blood tests are unable to differentiate accurately
between mBDNF and its precursor, known as proBDNF.
This
matters because proBDNF binds to a different receptor and causes inflammation
and nerve degeneration.
“Growing
evidence indicates that inflammation in brain cells is linked with depressive
behaviors, and proBDNF seems to activate the immune system,” says Prof. Xin-Fu
Zhou of the University of South
Australia in Adelaide. “Therefore, we must separate it from mature BDNF to get
an accurate reading.”
Recent
studies in animals by Prof. Zhou and his colleagues found that injecting
proBDNF into the brain or muscle triggers depressive behaviors.
Prof. Zhou and his team have now
developed a test that can measure mBDNF much more accurately.
In
collaboration with the University of Adelaide and Kunming Medical University in
Yunnan, China, they used the new test to show that people with depression or
bipolar disorder have significantly lower levels of mBDNF in their blood than
healthy controls.
In a paper
that appears in the Journal of Psychiatric Research, the study authors say that doctors
could use the test to diagnose these conditions and monitor the success of
treatment.
“This could
be an objective biomarker, in addition to a clinical assessment by a doctor,”
says Prof. Zhou.
Source: Medical News Today
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