title: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor expression ex vivo in obesity.
abstract: Obesity is associated with an increased risk in neurodegenerative diseases. To counteract the neuronal damage, the human body increases brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) expression, leading to neuronal survival and plasticity. Recently, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) have been found to release BDNF as a potential neuroprotective role of inflammation. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to examine whether lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced PBMC activation would lead to differences in BDNF and inflammatory responses between obese and non-obese subjects. Thirty-one subjects (14 obese and 17 non-obese), ages 18 to 30years, were recruited. PBMCs were cultured for 24h with 10ng/mL LPS. BDNF, tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) were measured in both plasma and cell culture supernatants. Our results did not illustrate any differences in plasma BDNF levels between obese and non-obese groups. However, obese subjects elicited a greater plasma IL-6 production, which was positively associated with plasma BDNF. Furthermore, LPS-induced PBMCs expressed significantly higher BDNF and IL-6 levels in obese subjects compared to the non-obese subjects. Finally, these BDNF levels were positively correlated with IL-6 response ex vivo. These findings suggest that under a high inflammatory state, PBMCs produce greater BDNF and IL-6 expression which may play a collaborative role to protect against neuronal damage associated with obesity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Exercise Science and Health Promotion, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL, United States. Electronic address: chuang5@fau.edu.
authors.forename: Chun-Jung
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: David C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Mari
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Whitehurst
authors.forename: Aaron
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Slusher
authors.forename: Alan
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: Yoshimi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shibata
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000886:Anthropometry; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000097:blood*; D004797:Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D015850:Interleukin-6 / Q000378:metabolism; D007963:Leukocytes, Mononuclear / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000494:pharmacology; D008297:Male; D009765:Obesity / Q000097:blood* / Q000473:pathology; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000378:metabolism; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; D015850:Interleukin-6; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha
keywords: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor; Interleukin-6; Lipopolysaccharide; Obesity; Tumor necrosis factor-α