Trial reportProgress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry2010
Serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor predicts responses to escitalopram in chronic posttraumatic stress disorder.
Trial report in Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry, 2010. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 51 citations in OpenAlex.
- Investigating the effects of different exercise protocols on depressive-like behaviors and brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in rodents: a systematic review.Experimental brain research · 2026Pooled it
- Comparing the effect of fluoxetine, escitalopram, and sertraline, on the level of BDNF and depression in preclinical and clinical studies: a systematic review.European journal of clinical pharmacology · 2024Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Efficacy and Tolerability of High-Dose Escitalopram in Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.Journal of clinical psychopharmacology · 2017Trial
- Serum pro-BDNF/BDNF as a treatment biomarker for response to docosahexaenoic acid in traumatized people vulnerable to developing psychological distress: a randomized controlled trial.Translational psychiatry · 2015Trial
- Plasma and Platelet Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) Levels in Bipolar Disorder Patients with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) or in a Major Depressive Episode Compared to Healthy Controls.International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- To Predict, Prevent, and Manage Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD): A Review of Pathophysiology, Treatment, and Biomarkers.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Review
- The Role of Tryptophan Metabolites in Neuropsychiatric Disorders.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Review
- Increased 5-HT2C receptor editing predisposes to PTSD-like behaviors and alters BDNF and cytokines signaling.Translational psychiatry · 2019Article
- Computational Analysis of Therapeutic Neuroadaptation to Chronic Antidepressant in a Model of the Monoaminergic Neurotransmitter and Stress Hormone Systems.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2019Article
- A Clinician's Guide to PTSD Biomarkers and Their Potential Future Use.Focus (American Psychiatric Publishing) · 2018Review
- Neurotrophic factors and hippocampal activity in PTSD.PloS one · 2018Article
- Pathological vascular and inflammatory biomarkers of acute- and chronic-phase traumatic brain injury.Concussion (London, England) · 2017Review
- Computational Model of Antidepressant Response Heterogeneity as Multi-pathway Neuroadaptation.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2017Article
- Peripheral Biomarker Candidates of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder.Experimental neurobiology · 2015Review
- Enhancing exposure therapy for anxiety disorders, obsessive-compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.Expert review of neurotherapeutics · 2014Review
- Exploring epigenetic regulation of fear memory and biomarkers associated with post-traumatic stress disorder.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2013Article
- Biomarkers in posttraumatic stress disorder: overview and implications for future research.Disease markers · 2013Review
- Fear extinction and BDNF: translating animal models of PTSD to the clinic.Genes, brain, and behavior · 2012Review
- Fear conditioning, synaptic plasticity and the amygdala: implications for posttraumatic stress disorder.Trends in neurosciences · 2012Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 2 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
Abstract
introductionSome studies have found that antidepressants increase serum brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels in patients with major depression and the expression of BDNF mRNA in limbic structures of rats.
objectivesThis study addressed whether the SSRI escitalopram increases serum BDNF levels in subjects with PTSD and whether BDNF levels are associated with treatment response.
methodsMedically healthy male subjects (N=16) with chronic PTSD completed a 12 week open-label trial of flexible dose (5-20 mg/day) escitalopram monotherapy. BDNF levels were obtained at baseline, and at weeks 4, 8 and 12.
resultsPTSD symptoms significantly declined over the course of the 12 week escitalopram treatment. Despite a substantial improvement in PTSD symptoms, there was virtually no change in BDNF levels over time. Nevertheless, mean BDNF levels across the trial were strongly correlated with the slope of PTSD symptoms over the 12 weeks (r=0.58, p=0.018). Lower mean BDNF was associated with a greater decrease in PTSD symptoms over the course of the trial.
conclusionsPTSD subjects with low BDNF levels demonstrated the largest treatment response from an agent with putative neurotrophic effects.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.