title: Serum BDNF levels in patients with gambling disorder are associated with the severity of gambling disorder and Iowa Gambling Task indices.
abstract: Background and aims Gambling disorder (GD) shares many similarities with substance use disorders (SUDs) in clinical, neurobiological, and neurocognitive features, including decision-making. We evaluated the relationships among, GD, decision-making, and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), as measured by serum BDNF levels. Methods Twenty-one male patients with GD and 21 healthy sex- and age-matched control subjects were evaluated for associations between serum BDNF levels and the Problem Gambling Severity Index (PGSI), as well as between serum BDNF levels and Iowa Gambling Task (IGT) indices. Results The mean serum BDNF levels were significantly increased in patients with GD compared to healthy controls. A significant correlation between serum BDNF levels and PGSI scores was found when controlling for age, depression, and duration of GD. A significant negative correlation was obtained between serum BDNF levels and IGT improvement scores. Discussion These findings support the hypothesis that serum BDNF levels constitute a dual biomarker for the neuroendocrine changes and the severity of GD in patients. Serum BDNF level may serve as an indicator of poor decision-making performance and learning processes in GD and help to identify the common physiological underpinnings between GD and SUDs.
authors.affiliation: Korea Institute on Behavioral Addiction , Seoul, Korea; Easy Brain Center, Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Sam-Wook
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Kangbuk Samsung Hospital, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine , Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Young-Chul
authors.initials: YC
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Seoul St Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea , Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jung Yeon
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Mok
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Seoul St Mary's Hospital, College of Medicine, The Catholic University of Korea , Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Dai-Jin
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, SMG-SNU Boramae Medical Center , Seoul, Korea.
authors.forename: Jung-Seok
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Choi
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Chonnam National University , Gwangju, Korea.
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Suk-Hyun Hwang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000097:blood; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000097:blood*; D005715:Gambling / Q000097:blood* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D010045:Outpatients; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor; C579455:BDNF protein, human
keywords: Iowa Gambling Task (IGT); behavioral addiction; brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF); gambling disorder