title: Investigating the neurobiology of music: brain-derived neurotrophic factor modulation in the hippocampus of young adult mice.
abstract: It has been shown that music might be able to improve mood state in people affected by psychiatric disorders, ameliorate cognitive deficits in people with dementia and increase motor coordination in Parkinson patients. Robust experimental evidence explaining the central effects of music, however, is missing. This study was designed to investigate the effect of music on brain neurotrophin production and behavior in the mouse. We exposed young adult mice to music with a slow rhythm (6 h/day; mild sound pressure levels, between 50 and 60 db) for 21 consecutive days. At the end of the treatment, mice were tested for passive avoidance learning and then killed for analysis of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and nerve growth factor with enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) in selected brain regions. We found that music-exposed mice showed increased BDNF, but not nerve growth factor in the hippocampus. Furthermore, we observed that music exposure significantly enhanced learning performance, as measured by the passive avoidance test. Our results demonstrate that exposure to music can modulate the activity of the hippocampus by influencing BDNF production. Our findings also suggest that music exposure might be of help in several central nervous system pathologies.
authors.affiliation: Fondazione Don C. Gnocchi, Catholic University, Largo Gemelli, Rome, Italy. angeluccifrancesco@rm.unicatt.it
authors.forename: Francesco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Angelucci
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fiore
authors.forename: Enzo
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ricci
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Padua
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sabino
authors.forename: Pietro Attilio
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Tonali
mesh_terms: D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000818:Animals; D001362:Avoidance Learning / Q000502:physiology; D001522:Behavior, Animal / Q000502:physiology*; D001835:Body Weight; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009146:Music; D020932:Nerve Growth Factor / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D020932:Nerve Growth Factor