Anxiety disorders (ADs) are disabling chronic disorders with exaggerated behavioral response to threats. This study was aimed at testing the hypothesis that ADs may be associated with reduced neurotrophic activity, particularly of Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), and determining possible effects of genetics on serum BDNF concentrations. In 672 adult subjects from six isolated villages ...

Neurogenesis, the division, migration, and differentiation of new neurons, occurs throughout life. Brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) has been identified as a potential signaling molecule regulating neurogenesis in the subventricular zone (SVZ), but its functional consequences in vivo have not been well defined. We report marked and unexpected deficits in survival but not proliferation of...

Adverse early care is associated with attention regulatory problems, but not all so exposed develop attention problems. In a sample of 612 youth (girls=432, M=11.82 yrs, SD=1.5) adopted from institutions (e.g., orphanages) in 25 countries, we examined whether the Val66Met polymorphism of the BDNF gene moderates attention problems associated with the duration of institutional care. Parent-report...

Sensation seeking is a temperament associated with willingness to take risks to obtain arousal. We investigated the relationship between the polymorphisms of the COMT Val158Met and BDNF Val66Met and sensation seeking traits. The Sensation Seeking Scale (SSS) and genotyping were performed in 277 Korean healthy volunteers (165 males, 112 females). Multivariate analysis of covariance was used to t...

Cortical physiology in human motor cortex is influenced by behavioral motor training (MT) as well as repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation protocol such as intermittent theta burst stimulation (iTBS). This study aimed to test whether MT and iTBS can interact with each other to produce additive changes in motor cortical physiology. We hypothesized that potential interaction between MT and...

Mounting evidence shows that the brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays a crucial role in synaptic plasticity. Due to its potential involvement in psychiatric diseases like depression and anxiety disorders BDNF lately became a major target in research. A functional variant of the BDNF gene--the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism--is of particular interest, because it influences the BDNF secreti...

BACKGROUND Alzheimer's disease is complex, with variants in multiple genes contributing to interactions increasing risk for the disease. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) promotes neuronal survival and modulates hippocampal-dependent memory. METHODS We examined 11 SNPs that spanned the gene on chromosome 11p14 in 220 Alzheimer's patients and 128 control spouses. RESULTS Not all of th...

The common single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) valine-to-methionine substitution at codon 66 (Val66Met) has been associated with differences in memory functions and cortical plasticity following brain stimulation. Other studies could not confirm these results, though, and potential interactions of BDNF carrier status with other learning-relevant SNPs ar...

The BDNF Val66Met polymorphism has been linked to decreased synaptic plasticity involved in motor learning tasks. We investigated whether individual differences in this polymorphism may promote differences in neural activity during a two-alternative forced-choice motor performance. In two separate sessions, the BOLD signal from 22 right-handed healthy men was measured during button presses with...