Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Meta-Analysis
. 2020 Nov 5;15(11):e0241928.
doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0241928. eCollection 2020.

Peripheral blood levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): A systematic review and meta-analysis

Helia Mojtabavi  1   2 , Amene Saghazadeh  3   4 , Leigh van den Heuvel  5 , Joana Bucker  6 , Nima Rezaei  2   3   4   7
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

Peripheral blood levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD): A systematic review and meta-analysis

Helia Mojtabavi et al. PLoS One. .

Abstract

Background: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) plays a crucial role in the survival, differentiation, growth, and plasticity of the central nervous system (CNS). Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a complex syndrome that affects CNS function. Evidence indicates that changes in peripheral levels of BDNF may interfere with stress. However, the results are mixed. This study investigates whether blood levels of BDNF in patients with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are different.

Methods: We conducted a systematic search in the major electronic medical databases from inception through September 2019 and identified Observational studies that measured serum levels of BDNF in patients with PTSD compared to controls without PTSD.

Results: 20 studies were eligible to be included in the present meta-analysis. Subjects with PTSD (n = 909) showed lower BDNF levels compared to Non-PTSD controls (n = 1679) (SMD = 0.52; 95% confidence interval: 0.18 to 0.85). Subgroup meta-analyses confirmed higher levels of BDNF in patients with PTSD compared to non-PTSD controls in plasma, not serum, and in studies that used sandwich ELISA, not ELISA, for BDNF measurement. Meta-regressions showed no significant effect of age, gender, NOS, and sample size.

Conclusions: PTSD patients had increased serum BDNF levels compared to healthy controls. Our finding of higher BDNF levels in patients with PTSD supports the notion that PTSD is a neuroplastic disorder.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Fig 1
Fig 1. PRISMA flow diagram.
Fig 2
Fig 2. A meta-analysis of BDNF levels in PTSD patients compared to non-PTSD controls by the type of control (healthy controls and patients without PTSD).
Fig 3
Fig 3. A meta-analysis of BDNF levels in PTSD patients compared to non-PTSD controls by the technique used for BDNF measurement (ELISA and sandwich ELISA).
Fig 4
Fig 4. A meta-analysis of BDNF levels in PTSD patients compared to non-PTSD controls by the specimen used for BDNF measurement (serum and plasma).
Fig 5
Fig 5. Funnel plot for meta-analysis related to BDNF levels in PTSD patients compared to non-PTSD controls.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

See all "Cited by" articles

References

    1. Han E.-J., et al., Evidence for Association between the Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Gene and Panic Disorder: A Novel Haplotype Analysis. Psychiatry investigation, 2015. 12(1): p. 112–117. 10.4306/pi.2015.12.1.112 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Young M.B., et al., 3,4-Methylenedioxymethamphetamine facilitates fear extinction learning. Translational Psychiatry, 2015. 5(9). 10.1038/tp.2015.138 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Bramham C.R. and Messaoudi E., BDNF function in adult synaptic plasticity: the synaptic consolidation hypothesis. Prog Neurobiol, 2005. 76(2): p. 99–125. 10.1016/j.pneurobio.2005.06.003 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Takei S., et al., Enhanced hippocampal BDNF/TrkB signaling in response to fear conditioning in an animal model of posttraumatic stress disorder. J Psychiatr Res, 2011. 45(4): p. 460–8. 10.1016/j.jpsychires.2010.08.009 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) accessed jan 2020 American Psychiatric Association https://www.psychiatry.org/patients-families/ptsd/what-is-ptsd.