Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor Research Paper

Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor - Research Paper Example Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) binding to TrkB is an important component of phospholipase Cg, mitogen-activated protein kinase/extracellular signal-regulated protein kinase (MAPK/ERK) and phosphoinositide 3-kinase pathways, all transducing signals into and out of cells. With roles in transmitting signals, changes in BDNF will thus be highly manifested as changes in memory, behavior, and cognition. Bipolar disease (BD) is a pathologic condition of the nervous system caused by both environmental and biological factors. It affects structures in the brain that affect mood, cognition, and behavior such as the limbic system, striatum, pallidum, thalamus, and cortex. Particularly, highly implicated in the development of the disease is the impairment of neuronal survival and synaptic plasticity, as mediated by BDNF, high quantities of which are found in the cortex, limbic structures, olfactory bulb, and cerebellum. Briefly, these parts are important in attention, memory, smell perception, and emotions, respectively. Because BDNF is found at high concentrations on brain areas highly affected during BD, many studies have looked into its particular characteristics with and without the disease. Because of the multiple pieces of evidence implicating BDNF to BD, several studies have looked into BDNF at a genetic level to better understand the disease. Many studies have found that a change from val66val to val66met is highly critical in the development of BD. In particular, val66met was found to cause lower cognitive task scores, partly because it results to lower volumes of the limbic system (hippocampus and parahippocampus), dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and temporal lobe as compared to that of the val66val variety. Â