Abnormal gene expression of BDNF, but not BDNF-AS, in iPSC, neural stem cells and postmortem brain samples from bipolar disorder.

Abstract Background Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) antisense RNA (BDNF-AS) was identified as naturally conserved non-coding antisense RNA that suppresses the transcription of BDNF. Methods We measured the expression of BDNF mRNA and BDNF-AS mRNA in iPSC and NSC from bipolar disorder (BD) patients and healthy control subjects, and postmortem brain samples such as the corpus callosum, the Brodmann area (BA8), and BA46 from BD patients and age- and sex-matched controls. Results The expression of BDNF mRNA in iPSC from BD patients (n = 6) was significantly lower than that of control subjects (n = 4) although the expression of BDNF mRNA in NSC from BD patients was significantly higher than that of control subjects. In contrast, there were no changes in the expression of BDNF-AS mRNA in both iPSC and NSC between two groups. The expression of BDNF mRNA in the BA46 from BD patients (n = 35) was significantly lower than that of controls (n = 34) although the expression of BDNF mRNA in the corpus callosum and BA8 was not different between two groups (n = 15). In contrast, there were no changes in expression of BDNF-AS mRNA in the three brain regions between two groups. Interestingly, there were significant positive correlations between BDNF mRNA expression and BDNF-AS mRNA expression in the postmortem brain samples. Limitations Sample sizes are relatively low. Conclusions Our data suggest that abnormalities in the expression of BDNF, but not BDNF-AS, play a role in the pathogenesis of BD.