title: Gender and brain regions specific differences in brain derived neurotrophic factor protein levels of depressed individuals who died through suicide.
abstract: Considerable evidence supports the view that depressive illness and suicidal behaviour stem from perturbations of neuroplasticity. Presently, we assessed whether depressed individuals who died by suicide displayed brain region-specific changes in brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and whether such effects varied by gender. Using postmortem samples from non-psychiatric controls and depressed individuals who died by suicide, BDNF protein levels were assessed within the hippocampus and frontopolar prefrontal cortex using Western blot. As expected, BDNF levels were reduced within the frontopolar prefrontal cortex among female depressed suicides; however, males showed no such effect. Contrastingly, within the hippocampus, depressed male but not female suicides displayed significant reductions of BDNF protein levels. Although the mechanisms driving the gender and brain region specific BDNF changes are unclear, our data do support the notion that complex alterations of neuroplasticity may be fundamentally involved in the illness.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Electronic address: shawn_hayley@carleton.ca.
authors.forename: Shawn
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hayley
authors.affiliation: University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Lisheng
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Du
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Darcy
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Litteljohn
authors.affiliation: Human Brain Tissue Bank and Laboratory, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Miklós
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Palkovits
authors.affiliation: Department of Clinical and Theoretical Mental Health, Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary.
authors.forename: Gábor
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Faludi
authors.affiliation: University of Ottawa Institute of Mental Health Research, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Zul
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Merali
authors.affiliation: Robarts Research Institute, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Michael O
authors.initials: MO
authors.lastname: Poulter
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroscience, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Hymie
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Anisman
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000378:metabolism*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003863:Depression / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000378:metabolism*; D012737:Sex Factors; D013405:Suicide
chemical_list: D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor
keywords: BDNF; Depression; Gender; Neuroplasticity; Postmortem; Suicide