Serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor levels and psychotic symptoms in heroin dependence.
OBJECTIVE
Psychotic symptoms are commonly observed among heroin users. Low serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels have been reported in schizophrenia and psychosis; however, studies assessing the relationship between serum BDNF levels and psychotic symptoms in heroin dependence are lacking.


METHODS
A total of 31 heroin-dependent patients who had never experienced psychotic symptoms during heroin consumption and 21 patients with a history of psychotic symptoms were consecutively recruited. We measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) serum BDNF levels during early abstinence. A gender- and age-matched sample of healthy controls was also recruited and underwent measurement of BDNF.


RESULTS
BDNF levels were significantly lower in patients with psychotic symptoms than in those without psychotic symptoms (P<0.001). BDNF levels were not found to be correlated with sex, age, age of onset, duration of heroin use, average daily dose of heroin use, frequency of heroin use, SDS scores, BAI scores and BDI scores in the psychotic subsamples (all P>0.05).


CONCLUSIONS
Our findings suggest that heroin-dependent patients with psychotic symptoms share some of the neurotrophic insult that characterizes schizophrenia and psychosis.
Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325000, Zhejiang Province, China.
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Han
Beijing HuiLongGuan Hospital, Peking University, Beijing, BJ 100096, PR China; Menninger Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX 77030, USA.
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Zhang
Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325000, Zhejiang Province, China; Department of Psychiatry, People's Hospital of Yueqing, Wenzhou, 325600, China.
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Wang
Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325000, Zhejiang Province, China.
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Ren
Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325000, Zhejiang Province, China.
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Gu
Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325000, Zhejiang Province, China.
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Zhu
Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325000, Zhejiang Province, China.
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Chang
Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325000, Zhejiang Province, China.
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Wang
Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325000, Zhejiang Province, China.
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Wu
Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325000, Zhejiang Province, China.
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Jin
Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325000, Zhejiang Province, China.
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Chen
Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325000, Zhejiang Province, China.
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Lyu
Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325000, Zhejiang Province, China.
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Zhao
Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325000, Zhejiang Province, China.
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Shao
Department of Neurology, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, 325000, Zhejiang Province, China. Electronic address: hjc@wmu.edu.cn.
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He
D000328:Adult; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000097:blood*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006556:Heroin Dependence / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000097:blood* / Q000150:complications* / Q000523:psychology
D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; C579455:BDNF protein, human