4.7 Article

BDNF and Cognitive Function in Chilean Schizophrenic Patients

Journal

Publisher

MDPI
DOI: 10.3390/ijms241310569

Keywords

brain-derived neurotrophic factor; neurotrophins; schizophrenia; cognition; Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA); cognitive impairment; cognition biomarker; BDNF plasma levels

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Despite the importance of cognitive symptoms in schizophrenia, not every patient experiences significant cognitive deficits. This study investigated the relationship between brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and cognitive functioning in two subgroups of schizophrenic patients. The results showed a significant positive correlation between plasma BDNF levels and cognitive deficits in a subgroup of patients, suggesting a role for BDNF in cognitive functioning in schizophrenics with cognitive deficits, but not in those with normal cognitive status.
Despite cognitive symptoms being very important in schizophrenia, not every schizophrenic patient has a significant cognitive deficit. The molecular mechanisms underlying the different degrees of cognitive functioning in schizophrenic patients are not sufficiently understood. We studied the relation between brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) and cognitive functioning in two groups of schizophrenic patients with different cognitive statuses. According to the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) results, the schizophrenic patients were classified into two subgroups: normal cognition (26 or more) and cognitive deficit (25 or less). We measured their plasma BDNF levels using ELISAs. The statistical analyses were performed using Spearman's Rho and Kruskal-Wallis tests. We found a statistically significant positive correlation between the plasma BDNF levels and MoCA score (p = 0.04) in the subgroup of schizophrenic patients with a cognitive deficit (n = 29). However, this correlation was not observed in the patients with normal cognition (n = 11) and was not observed in the total patient group (n = 40). These results support a significant role for BDNF in the cognitive functioning of schizophrenics with some degree of cognitive deficit, but suggest that BDNF may not be crucial in patients with a normal cognitive status. These findings provide information about the molecular basis underlying cognitive deficits in this illness.

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