Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor: A Key Molecule for Memory in the Healthy and the Pathological Brain

MIRANDA, MAGDALENA; MORICI, JUAN FACUNDO; ZANONI, MARÍA BELÉN; BEKINSCHTEIN, PEDRO

Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience

Frontiers

Año: 2019 vol. 13

Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) is a key molecule involved in plasticchanges related to learning and memory. The expression of BDNF is highly regulated,and can lead to great variability in BDNF levels in healthy subjects. Changes inBDNF expression are associated with both normal and pathological aging and alsopsychiatric disease, in particular in structures important for memory processes suchas the hippocampus and parahippocampal areas. Some interventions like exerciseor antidepressant administration enhance the expression of BDNF in normal andpathological conditions. In this review, we will describe studies from rodents and humansto bring together research on how BDNF expression is regulated, how this expressionchanges in the pathological brain and also exciting work on how interventions knownto enhance this neurotrophin could have clinical relevance. We propose that, althoughBDNF may not be a valid biomarker for neurodegenerative/neuropsychiatric diseasesbecause of its disregulation common to many pathological conditions, it could bethought of as a marker that specifically relates to the occurrence and/or progressionof the mnemonic symptoms that are common to many pathological conditions.