BACKGROUND One of the most devastating consequences of methamphetamine abuse is increased risk of psychosis. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor has been implicated in both psychosis and neuronal responses to methamphetamine. We therefore examined persistent psychosis-like behavioral effects of methamphetamine in brain-derived neurotrophic factor heterozygous mice. METHODS Mice were chronically...

We previously showed that motor nerves are superior to sensory nerves in promoting axon regeneration after spinal root avulsion. It is, however, impractical to use motor nerves as grafts. One potential approach to enhancing axonal regeneration using sensory nerves is to deliver trophic factors to the graft. Here, we examined the regulation of receptors for brain-derived neurotrophic factor, gli...

To evaluate the effects of glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor transplantation combined with adipose-derived stem cells-transdifferentiated motoneuron delivery on spinal cord contusion injury, we developed rat models of spinal cord contusion injury, 7 days later, injected adipose-derived stem cells-transdifferentiated motoneurons into the epicenter, rostral and caudal regions of the imp...

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor plays a key role in neuronal and axonal survival. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor is expressed in the immune cells in lesions of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis and multiple sclerosis, thus potentially mediating neuroprotective effects. We investigated the functional role of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein-in...

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...

Animal studies have evidenced protection of the auditory nerve by exogenous neurotrophic factors. In order to assess clinical applicability of neurotrophic treatment of the auditory nerve, the safety and efficacy of neurotrophic therapies in various human disorders were systematically reviewed. Outcomes of our literature search included disorder, neurotrophic factor, administration route, thera...

glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (gdnf) plays important roles not only for the differentiation of neurons during normal development but also for the survival and recovery of many populations of mature neurons. the effect of traumatic brain injury (tbi) on the expression of gdnf is currently unknown. to determine if there is alteration in gdnf after tbi we examined the effect of contr...