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Changes in serum levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor with electroconvulsive therapy and pharmacotherapy and its clinical correlates in male schizophrenia patients

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 December 2021

Ibrahim Akbas Open the ORCID record for Ibrahim Akbas [Opens in a new window]  and
Ozlem Devrim Balaban Open the ORCID record for Ozlem Devrim Balaban [Opens in a new window]
Ibrahim Akbas*
Affiliation:
Psychiatry, Istinye State Hospital, Republic of Turkey Ministry of Health, Istanbul, Turkey
Ozlem Devrim Balaban
Affiliation:
Psychiatry, Bakirkoy Prof. Dr. Mazhar Osman Training and Research Hospital for Psychiatry, Neurology and Neurosurgery, University of Health Sciences, Istanbul, Turkey
*
Author for correspondence: Ibrahim Akbas, Email: akbasibo@gmail.com
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Abstract

Objectives:

It has been postulated that neurotrophin dysregulation leads to disorganisation in neuronal networks, which results in schizophrenia. The current study sets out to evaluate if the finding of lower brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels in schizophrenia patients could be confirmed in an independent cohort and to investigate if the BDNF levels can be altered with different treatment modalities such as electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and/or antipsychotic pharmacotherapy (PT).

Methods:

A total of 54 male patients with schizophrenia and 35 healthy controls were included in the study. Schizophrenia patients were subdivided into two groups as the ones who underwent ECT + PT and only PT. Clinical and sociodemographic data questionnaire, Positive and Negative Syndrome Scale (PANSS) and blood sample collection for BDNF assessment were applied to all patients (on first and last days of admissions) and healthy participants (on the day of the interview). Then, clinical parameters and blood sample outcomes were statistically analysed.

Results:

Mean BDNF levels of healthy individuals were significantly higher than mean pre- and post-treatment BDNF levels in both PT only and ECT + PT groups. While serum BDNF levels did not increase after ECT + PT, there was a trend level increase in the PT only group. There was no significant correlation between the changes in serum BDNF levels with total PANSS scores in either group after treatment.

Conclusions:

We could confirm previously suggested data of lower serum BDNF levels in schizophrenia patients compared to healthy population but we could not find significant increase in serum BDNF levels with ECT + PT or only PT as some previous studies suggested.

Keywords

Brain-derived neurotrophic factorECTantipsychoticsneurotrophin
Type
Original Article
Information
Acta Neuropsychiatrica , Volume 34 , Issue 2 , April 2022 , pp. 99 - 105
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Copyright
© The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Scandinavian College of Neuropsychopharmacology

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