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BDNF linked to eating disorders

Posted by jrbecker on August 26, 2003, at 9:17:54

http://www.medwire.md/News_single.aspx?newstype=3&date=20030826&story_id=18776

BDNF linked to eating disorders
Biol Psychiatry 2003; 54: 485–490

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) may play a role in the pathophsyiology of abnormal eating behaviors, potentially providing a biological marker for the condition, study findings indicate.

"It has been suggested that BDNF plays an essential maintenance role in the regulation of food intake through central mediators in both the basal and fasted state," observe Michiko Nakazato and colleagues, from Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine in Japan.

Consequently, they investigated whether this factor may be related to eating disorders such as bulimia nervosa (BN) and anorexia nervosa (AN).

The team evaluated eating-related psychopathology and depressive symptoms in 18 female patients with BN, 12 with AN, and 21 age-matched healthy controls, using the Bulimic Investigatory Test, Edinburgh (BITE), and the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS). Serum BDF levels were also measured.

Compared with controls, serum levels of BDNF were significantly reduced in patients with AN or BN, at an average of 61.4 ng/ml, 24.9 ng/ml, and 38.4 ng/ml, respectively.

In all of the participants, serum BDNF levels correlated positively with body mass index. However, the team reports that serum BDNF levels of the patients with BN, who had a normal BMI, were significantly lower than those of controls, suggesting that lowered serum BDNF levels are not due to reduced BMI.

Positive correlations also existed between scores on the BITE symptom scale and the HDRS in the patients with AN or BN, but not between the BITE severity scale and the HDRS.

"Therefore it appears likely that reduced BDNF levels produce abnormal eating behavior in patients with eating disorders," the researchers conclude in the journal Biological Psychiatry.


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