title: BDNF Variants May Modulate Long-Term Visual Memory Performance in a Healthy Cohort.
abstract: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is involved in numerous cognitive functions including learning and memory. BDNF plays an important role in synaptic plasticity in humans and rats with BDNF shown to be essential for the formation of long-term memories. We previously identified a significant association between theBDNFVal66Met polymorphism (rs6265) and long-term visual memory (p-value = 0.003) in a small cohort (n= 181) comprised of healthy individuals who had been phenotyped for various aspects of memory function. In this study, we have extended the cohort to 597 individuals and examined multiple genetic variants across both theBDNFandBDNF-ASgenes for association with visual memory performance as assessed by the Wechsler Memory Scale-Fourth Edition subtests Visual Reproduction I and II (VR I and II). VR I assesses immediate visual memory, whereas VR II assesses long-term visual memory. Genetic association analyses were performed for 34 single nucleotide polymorphisms genotyped on Illumina OmniExpress BeadChip arrays with the immediate and long-term visual memory phenotypes. While none of theBDNFandBDNF-ASvariants were shown to be significant for immediate visual memory, we found 10 variants (including the Val66Met polymorphism (p-value = 0.006)) that were nominally associated, and three variants (two variants inBDNFand one variant in theBDNF-ASlocus) that were significantly associated with long-term visual memory. Our data therefore suggests a potential role forBDNF, and its anti-sense transcriptBDNF-AS, in long-term visual memory performance.
authors.affiliation: Genomics Research Centre, Chronic Disease and Ageing, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, School of Biomedical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4059, Australia. nesli.avgan@qut.edu.au.
authors.forename: Nesli
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Avgan
authors.affiliation: Genomics Research Centre, Chronic Disease and Ageing, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, School of Biomedical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4059, Australia. heidi.sutherland@qut.edu.au.
authors.forename: Heidi G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Sutherland
authors.affiliation: Menzies Health Institute Queensland and School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, Gold Coast 4222, Australia. l.spriggens@griffith.edu.au.
authors.forename: Lauren K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Spriggens
authors.affiliation: Genomics Research Centre, Chronic Disease and Ageing, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, School of Biomedical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4059, Australia. c22.yu@hdr.qut.edu.au.
authors.forename: Chieh
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Genomics Research Centre, Chronic Disease and Ageing, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, School of Biomedical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4059, Australia. omarezzedin@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Omar
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Ibrahim
authors.affiliation: Genomics Research Centre, Chronic Disease and Ageing, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, School of Biomedical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4059, Australia. bellisc@gis.a-star.edu.sg.|Human Genetics, Genome Institute of Singapore, Agency for Science, Technology and Research of Singapore, Singapore 138672, Singapore. bellisc@gis.a-star.edu.sg.
authors.forename: Claire
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Bellis
authors.affiliation: Genomics Research Centre, Chronic Disease and Ageing, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, School of Biomedical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4059, Australia. larisa.haupt@qut.edu.au.
authors.forename: Larisa M
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Haupt
authors.affiliation: Menzies Health Institute Queensland and School of Applied Psychology, Griffith University, Gold Coast 4222, Australia. d.shum@griffith.edu.au.
authors.forename: David H K
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Shum
authors.affiliation: Genomics Research Centre, Chronic Disease and Ageing, Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation, School of Biomedical Sciences, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4059, Australia. lyn.griffiths@qut.edu.au.
authors.forename: Lyn R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Griffiths
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D057567:Memory, Long-Term; D008875:Middle Aged; D010364:Pattern Recognition, Visual; D020641:Polymorphism, Single Nucleotide
chemical_list: D019208:Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor
keywords: BDNF; genetics of memory; human memory; long-term visual memory