ReviewNeurochemical research2020
The Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor: Missing Link Between Sleep Deprivation, Insomnia, and Depression.
Review in Neurochemical research, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 74 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
74 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 129 citations in OpenAlex.
- Association of sleep quality and sleep duration with anxiety symptoms in older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Pooled it
- A randomized feasibility trial of medium chain triglyceride-supplemented ketogenic diet in people with Parkinson's disease.BMC neurology · 2024Trial
- The effect of acupuncture on depression and its correlation with metabolic alterations: A randomized controlled trial.Medicine · 2020Trial
- A randomized controlled study of weighted chain blankets for insomnia in psychiatric disorders.Journal of clinical sleep medicine : JCSM : official publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine · 2020Trial
- Article
- Comparative effects of diazepam administration and chronic sleep deprivation on cognitive function and biochemical markers in rats.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Alterations in serum melatonin, IL-6 and BDNF levels and their clinical correlations in first-episode major depressive disorder.Annals of general psychiatry · 2026Article
- The associations of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) levels with psychopathology and lipid metabolism parameters in adolescents with major depressive disorder.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2026Article
- Associations Between Sleep Deprivation, Circadian Gene Expression, Depressive Symptoms, and Psychomotor Performance-Preliminary Results.Journal of clinical medicine · 2026Article
- Genetic and clinical observational evidence for associations between sleep disorders and psychiatric disorders.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Article
- Management of depression utilizing Traditional Chinese Medicine.Frontiers in pharmacology · 2026Review
- Associations among mental health promotion, sleep concerns, fatigue, and stress in clinical nurses: network and latent profile analysis.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- Selecting an appropriate stress model of depression in rodents.World journal of psychiatry · 2025Review
- Progress in Research on the Mechanism of GABA in Improving Sleep.Foods (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Review
- The interaction and joint effects of the hemoglobin-to-red cell distribution width ratio and the triglyceride-glucose index (TyG) on depressive symptoms among residents of Nanjing City, along with the mediating role of TyG: a population-based study of 181,752 participants.Translational psychiatry · 2025Article
- Changes in smartphone dependence and depressive and anxiety symptoms among Chinese adolescents.BMC medicine · 2025Article
- Extraction Methods and Sedative-Hypnotic Effects of Total Flavonoids fromPharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- The causal association between insomnia and cognitive decline: A 2-sample, 2-step multivariable Mendelian randomization study.Medicine · 2025Article
- Exploring Dapagliflozin's Influence on Autophagic Flux in Mania-like Behaviour: Insights from the LKB1/AMPK/LC3 Pathway in a Mouse Model.Journal of neuroimmune pharmacology : the official journal of the Society on NeuroImmune Pharmacology · 2025Article
- Study on the correlation between insomnia degree and quality of life in psychiatric outpatients in Chifeng city.World journal of psychiatry · 2025Article
14 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
3 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
The brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) mediates the plasticity-related changes that associate with memory processing during sleep. Sleep deprivation and chronic stress are associated with propensity to depression, anxiety, and insomnia. We propose a model by which explain alterations in the CNS and serum expression of BDNF associated with chronic sleep deprivation, depression, and insomnia. Mild sleep deprivation activates the cerebral cortex and brainstem to generate the physiologic drive for non-rapid eye movement (NREM) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep drive respectively, associated with BDNF upregulation in these regions. This physiological response loses effectiveness with longer episodes or during chronic of total or selective REM sleep loss, which are associated with impaired hippocampal BDNF expression, impaired memory and cognition. Chronic sleep deprivation and insomnia can act as an external stressors and result in depression, characterized by hippocampal BDNF downregulation along with disrupted frontal cortical BDNF expression, as well as reduced levels and impaired diurnal alterations in serum BDNF expression. Acute REM sleep deprivation breaks the cycle by restoration of hippocampal, and possibly restoration of cortical and serum expression of BDNF. The BDNF Val66Met polymorphism alters susceptibility to depression, anxiety, and insomnia by altering availability and expression of BDNF in brain and blood. The proposed model is testable and implies that low levels and low variability in serum BDNF are associated with poor response to anti-depressive medications, electroconvulsive therapy, and REM sleep deprivation, in patients with depression. Our mode is also backed up by the existing clinical evidence but is yet to be investigated.
Indexed as
Identifiers
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.