Detailed contribution information
| Contribution title | 2868 - Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) and Mood Disorders: preliminary study on pediatric patients. |
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| Contribution code | PS02-54 (P) |
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| Form of presentation | Poster |
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| Abstract |
Objectives Depressive disorders affects 1-2% of children and 4-6% of adolescents (Kessler et al., 2001), sometimes leading to severe consequences as self-harm and suicide, with a huge impact on costs and psychosocial outcome. Neurobiological mechanisms of mood disorders are still unknown, but evidences suggest that Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) plays a central role in depressive disorders. Studies on adults demonstrated that BDNF levels are reduced in depressed population compared with healthy groups. BDNF decrease appears associated to a reduction in neurogenesis and in volume of some important cerebral areas such as hippocampus, amigdala and prefrontal cortex (Biggio, 2011). The aim of the present study is to explore the “neurotrophic hypothesis” in children suffering from depression by comparing plasma BDNF concentration in patients to healthy peers at diagnosis and after 6 and 12 months. Secondary objective is to analyze correlation to clinical characteristics and plasmatic neurotrophin levels. Methods: BDNF plasma concentrations were measured in 10 naive adolescent inpatients affected by depressive disorders, according to the DSM-5, using the BDNF Emax Immunoassay System (Promega, Madison, U.S.A.). Severity of depression and clinical characteristics were assessed with a clinical evaluation, a set of standardized test and indexes and projective tests. Patients were matched and compared to a group of health children. Results: Plasma mature BDNF levels in untreated patients with depression (16529.6 ±6064.9 pg/ml) were lower than those (23078.5 ±10263.6 pg/ml) in the healthy group. There were no correlations between plasma levels and psychopathological test score. The main limitation of the present study is represented by the small sample size, so it was conducted an analysis of every case report individually. This descriptive evaluation highlights that BDNF levels were linked to the clinical course and to treatment efficacy, in term of an increasing of the neurotrophin in case of clinical improvement. Conclusions: The study suggests that low BDNF levels may play a role in the pathogenesis of depression in paediatric population. To our knowledge, this is the first study that reports mature BDNF levels in a pediatric well characterized population. Further longitudinal studies are needed to evaluate the trend of plasmatic levels in treated subjects and to establish the role of BDNF as a possible biomarker to improve a patient-tailored therapy. |