Korean J Biol Psychiatry.  2005 Nov;12(2):189-195.

Decreased Concentration of Plasma Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor in Suicide Attempters

• Won SD
• Shim SH
• Yang JC
• Lee HJ
• Lee BH
• Han CS
• Kim KH
• Kim YK

Abstract

OBJECTS: Some studies have suggested that brain-derived neurotrophic factor(BDNF), one of the most important neurotrophins, is involved in pathophysiology of depression and suicide. This study was performed to determine whether there is an abnormality in plasma BDNF concentration in suicidal attempters.
METHODS
The subjects were 71 suicidal attempters who visited emergency rooms in multi-medical centers. All subjects had been interviewed by using Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV(SCID), Hamilton Depression Rating Scale(HDRS), Young Mania Rating Scale(YMRS), and Positive And Negative Syndrome Scale(PANSS). The severity of the suicidal behavior was measured by Lethality of Suicide Attempt Rating Scale(LSARS) and Risk-Rescue Rating(RRR) system. Seventy-one age, sex, and diagnosis matched non-suicidal psychiatric patients who were consecutively admitted to a psychiatric ward during the same period recruited as psychiatric controls. They were drug-naive or drug-free at least more than 2 months. In addition, 80 healthy controls were randomly selected as normal controls. Plasma BDNF level was measured by the enzyme linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA) methods.
RESULTS
In overall F-test, differences of the plasma BDNF levels among the groups were statistically significant(F=20.226, p<0.001). In the multiple comparisons(Scheffe), while mean levels of plasma BDNF between normal controls and non-suicidal psychiatric patients were similar(p=0.984), the BDNF levels of suicidal attempters were lower than those of other two groups(p<0.001). LSARS and RRR did not reveal any significant correlations with BDNF levels in suicidal attempters.
CONCLUSION
These results suggest that reduction of plasma BDNF level is related to suicidal behavior and BDNF level may be a biological marker of suicidal behavior.

Keyword

Suicide; Neurotrophin; BDNF; Lethality of suicide attempt rating scale; Risk-rescue rating

MeSH Terms

Biomarkers
Bipolar Disorder
Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor*
Depression
Diagnosis
Emergency Service, Hospital
Humans
Nerve Growth Factors
Plasma*
Suicide*
Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor
Nerve Growth Factors