title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor in post-partum depressive mothers.
abstract: Postpartum depression (PPD) is the most common psychiatric complication observed in women after they give birth. Some women are particularly sensitive to hormonal changes, starting in early menarche, thus increasing their vulnerability to psychological stressing agents that are triggered by environmental and physiological factors throughout their lives. Decreased serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels have been associated to different neuropsychiatric conditions and BDNF has been considered as a candidate marker for such dysfunctions. The goal of this study was to compare the levels of BDNF between mothers who suffer from PPD and healthy control mothers as well as to searching for associations between BDNF levels and the severity of PPD. This is a case-control study including 36 mothers with PPD and 36 healthy control mothers. PPD was defined according to the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI). Serum BDNF was assayed with the sandwich ELISA method.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Serum levels of BDNF were significantly lower in women with PPD than in control mothers (P ≤ 0.03). A significant negative correlation between BDI score and serum BDNF levels was observed (P ≤ 0.02 and r = -0.29). Our study demonstrated that low BDNF levels are associated with PPD. This result point out to the potential usage of BDNF in the screening of PPD, which could promote early treatment and, therefore, reduce the burden to the PPD women and to the health system.
authors.affiliation: Programa de Pós-Graduação em Saúde & Comportamento, Centro de Ciências da Vida e da Saúde, Universidade Católica de Pelotas, Rua Almirante Barroso 1202, Pelotas, Rio Grande do Sul 96010-280, Brazil.
authors.forename: Marta
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gazal
authors.forename: Luis Souza
authors.initials: LS
authors.lastname: Motta
authors.forename: Carolina David
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Wiener
authors.forename: Juliano Costa
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Fernandes
authors.forename: Luciana Avila
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Quevedo
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jansen
authors.forename: Karen Amaral Tavares
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: Pinheiro
authors.forename: Márcia
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Giovenardi
authors.forename: Diogo Onofre
authors.initials: DO
authors.lastname: Souza
authors.forename: Ricardo Azevedo da
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Silva
authors.forename: Ricardo Tavares
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Pinheiro
authors.forename: Luis Valmor
authors.initials: LV
authors.lastname: Portela
authors.forename: Jean Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Oses
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000097:blood*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D019052:Depression, Postpartum / Q000097:blood*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male
chemical_list: D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor
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