Posted by Heidi/Mermie The article, Increased BDNF serum concentration in fibromyalgia with or without depression or antidepressants, describes the results of the department's pilot study. Fibromyalgia (FM) is still often viewed as a psychosomatic disorder. However, the increased pain sensitivity to stimuli in FM patients is not an "imagined" histrionic phenomena. Pain, which is consistently felt in the musculature, is related to specific abnormalities in the CNS pain matrix. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is an endogenous protein involved in neuronal survival and synaptic plasticity of the central and peripheral nervous system (CNS and PNS). Several lines of evidence converged to indicate that BDNF also participates in structural and functional plasticity of nociceptive pathways in the CNS and within the dorsal root ganglia and spinal cord. In the latter, release of BDNF appears to modulate or even mediate nociceptive sensory inputs and pain hypersensitivity. We were interested, if BDNF serum concentration may be altered in FM. This pilot study was the first to assess BDNF serum concentrations in fibromyalgia patients. They studied 41 fibromyalgia patients and 45 age-matched healthy controls. They found that the mean serum levels of BDNF in fibromyalgia patients were significantly increased as compared to healthy controls. Fibromyalgia patients had a mean level of 19.6 ng/ml; SD 3.1. Health controls had a mean level of 16.8 ng/ml; SD 2.7; p<0.0001. The researchers conclude that the study indicates that "BDNF may be involved in the pathophysiology of pain in [fibromyalgia]. Nevertheless, how BDNF increases susceptibility to pain is still not known.wtresearchteam!M!
on 8/28/2007, 3:01 am
In the October 2007 issue of the Journal of Psychiatric Research a study conducted by researchers at the Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Tuebingen, Germany, will discuss their research into the levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor in fibromyalgia patients and their conclusion that fibromyalgia is not a psychiatric or psychosomatic disorder.
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