The impact of BDNF variant on bipolar susceptibility, suicidal behavior, and response to lithium carbonate in bipolar patients

Abstract

Abstract Synaptic plasticity is intimately involved in the pathophysiology and treatment of bipolar disorder and disruptions in neuroplasticity can play an important role in the process of suicide behavior in bipolar patients. One of the major neurotrophic factors with essential role in the maintenance and survival of neurons and synaptic plasticity is Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) which is encoded by BDNF gene. The impact of BDNF variant on predisposition to bipolar disorder, suicidal behavior and response of patients to lithium carbonate was investigated in this study on 201 bipolar patients compared with 201 healthy controls. The tetra primers -Amplification Refractory Mutation System-PCR method was used for genotyping. Results were confirmed by Sanger sequencing method. The obtained results showed significant association of different genotypes of rs6265 with bipolar susceptibility, suicide tendency, suicide ideation as well with various responses of patients to the treatment. Overall, it appears that BDNF variant may serve as an important biological risk factor in bipolar pathogenesis, suicidality, and various responses to lithium carbonate in bipolar patients in Iranian population.