Trial reportProgress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry2011
Serum BDNF levels before treatment predict SSRI response in depression.
Trial report in Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 75 papers, 5 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
75 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 176 citations in OpenAlex.
- Serum Brain-derived Neurotrophic Factor Levels as a Biomarker of Treatment Response in Patients With Depression: Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.Actas espanolas de psiquiatria · 2025Pooled 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
- Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) as a Predictor of Treatment Response in Major Depressive Disorder (MDD): A Systematic Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Pooled it
- Meta-analyses of comparative efficacy of antidepressant medications on peripheral BDNF concentration in patients with depression.PloS one · 2017Pooled it
- Serum BDNF concentrations as peripheral manifestations of depression: evidence from a systematic review and meta-analyses on 179 associations (N=9484).Molecular psychiatry · 2014Pooled it
- Double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled pilot study of the phosphodiesterase-3 inhibitor cilostazol as an adjunctive to antidepressants in patients with major depressive disorder.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2021Trial
- Trial
- BDNF plasma levels after antidepressant treatment with sertraline and transcranial direct current stimulation: results from a factorial, randomized, sham-controlled trial.European neuropsychopharmacology : the journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2014Trial
- The impact of paternal PTSD-like stress on cognitive behavior and hippocampal BDNF expression in adolescent male and female rat offspring: modulatory effects of lithium.Behavioral and brain functions : BBF · 2026Article
- Association between miR-182 rs76481776 Polymorphism and Antidepressant Treatment Response in Patients with Depression.Clinical psychopharmacology and neuroscience : the official scientific journal of the Korean College of Neuropsychopharmacology · 2026Article
- Review
- Antidepressant-like and neuroprotective effect of hydroalcoholic extract of Aloysia citriodora in animals subjected to childhood stress.Molecular biology reports · 2025Article
- MiR-134-5p/BDNF/TrkB/CREB signaling pathway involved in the depression-like behaviors in mice following exposure to benzo[a]pyrene.Metabolic brain disease · 2025Article
- BDNF Gene Polymorphism and Antidepressant Response in Han Chinese Patients with First-Episode Late-Life Depression.Alpha psychiatry · 2025Article
- Effects of Probiotics as Adjunctive Therapy to Fluoxetine on Depression Severity and Serum Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor, Cortisol, and Adrenocorticotropic Hormone in Patients With Major Depressive Disorder: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial.Food science & nutrition · 2025Article
- Hydroalcoholic Extract of Centella asiatica and Madecassic Acid Reverse Depressive-Like Behaviors, Inflammation and Oxidative Stress in Adult Rats Submitted to Stress in Early Life.Molecular neurobiology · 2024Article
- Serotonin transporter 5-HTTLPR polymorphism and escitalopram treatment response in patients with major depressive disorder.BMC psychiatry · 2024Article
- The researcher's guide to selecting biomarkers in mental health studies.BioEssays : news and reviews in molecular, cellular and developmental biology · 2024Review
- Are BDNF and Stress Levels Related to Antidepressant Response?International journal of molecular sciences · 2024Article
- Article
15 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
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 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
objectivesThe "neurotrophin hypothesis" of depression posits a role of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in depression, although it is unknown whether BDNF is more involved in the etiology of depression or in the mechanism of action of antidepressants. It is also unknown whether pre-treatment serum BDNF levels predict antidepressant response.
methodsThirty un-medicated depressed subjects were treated with escitalopram (N=16) or sertraline (N=14) for 8 weeks. Twenty-five of the depressed subjects completed 8 weeks of antidepressant treatment and had analyzable data. Twenty-eight healthy controls were also studied. Serum for BDNF assay was obtained at baseline in all subjects and after 8 weeks of treatment in the depressed subjects. Depression ratings were obtained at baseline and after 8 weeks of treatment in the depressed subjects.
resultsPre-treatment BDNF levels were lower in the depressed subjects than the controls (p=0.001) but were not significantly correlated with pre-treatment depression severity. Depression ratings improved with SSRI treatment (p<0.001), and BDNF levels increased with treatment (p=0.005). Changes in BDNF levels were not significantly correlated with changes in depression ratings. However, pre-treatment BDNF levels were directly correlated with antidepressant responses (p<0.01), and "Responders" to treatment (≥ 50% improvement in depression ratings) had higher pre-treatment BDNF levels than did "Non-responders" (p<0.05).
conclusionsThese results confirm low serum BDNF levels in un-medicated depressed subjects and confirm antidepressant-induced increases in BDNF levels, but they suggest that antidepressants do not work simply by correcting BDNF insufficiency. Rather, these findings are consistent with a permissive or facilitatory role of BDNF in the mechanism of action of antidepressants.
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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.