Early life adversity increases the risk of mental disorders later in life. Chronic early life stress may alter neurotrophic factor gene expression including those for brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and glial cell derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) that are important in neuronal growth, survival, and maintenance. Maternal separation was used in this study to model early life stress. Fo...

Neurotrophic support to peripheral sensory neurons is provided by 2 factors of related sequence, NGF and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). NGF is present in peripheral target tissues, while BDNF has only been reported in the CNS. We now report the biological characterization and molecular cloning of a cDNA for BDNF from human platelets. BDNF in human platelets has biological activities ...

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is known to play a role in experience-dependent plasticity of the developing visual cortex. For example, BDNF acutely enhances long-term potentiation and blocks long-term depression in the visual cortex of young rats. Such acute actions of BDNF suggested to be mediated mainly through presynaptic mechanisms. A chronic application of BDNF to the visual cor...

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is known to play a role in experience-dependent plasticity of the developing visual cortex. For example, BDNF acutely enhances long-term potentiation and blocks long-term depression in the visual cortex of young rats. Such acute actions of BDNF suggested to be mediated mainly through presynaptic mechanisms. A chronic application of BDNF to the visual cor...

Geniculate axons are initially guided to discrete epithelial placodes in the lingual and palatal epithelium that subsequently differentiate into taste buds. In vivo approaches show that brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) mRNA is concentrated in these placodes, that BDNF is necessary for targeting taste afferents to these placodes, and that BDNF misexpression disrupts guidance. We used an ...

Fibromyalgia syndrome is a chronic widespread pain condition. Other symptoms often can be found, such as fatigue, lack of sleep, irritable bowel syndrome, and mood disturbance. In addition, depression is a clinically relevant symptom that commonly found in fibromyalgia syndrome patients. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor has been known to play a role in fibromyalgia syndrome patients. Additiona...

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) was studied initially for its role in sensory neuron development. Ablation of this gene in mice leads to death shortly after birth, and abnormalities have been found in both the peripheral and central nervous systems. BDNF and its tyrosine kinase receptor, TrkB, are expressed in hypothalamic nuclei associated with satiety and locomotor activity. In heter...

Moods and metabolism modulate each other. High comorbidity of depression metabolic disorders, such as diabetes obesity, poses a great challenge to treat conditions. Here we report the therapeutic efficacy brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) by gene transfer in dorsal raphe nucleus (DRN) chronic unpredictable mild stress model (CUMS) models obesity. In CUMS, BDNF-expressing mice displayed a...

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is a versatile neurotrophic factor that has been implicated in cell survival, cell differentiation, axonal growth, and activity-dependent synaptic plasticity. Changes in BDNF expression have also been reported during the course of several neurological disorders, including Alzheimer's disease (AD). The role of BDNF in AD, however, has remained elusive. To...

Neurotrophins and modifiers of chromatin acetylation and deacetylation participate in regulation of transcription during neuronal maturation and maintenance. The striatal medium spiny neuron is supported by cortically-derived brain derived neurotrophic factor and is the most vulnerable neuron in Huntington's disease, in which growth factor and histone deacetylase activity are both disrupted. We...