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Plasma levels of vascular endothelial growth factor and fibroblast growth factor 2 in patients with major depressive disorders

  • Biological Psychiatry - Short Communication
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Abstract

We investigated the plasma levels of VEGF and FGF-2, important factors for regulation of neuroplasticity such as neurogenesis, in patients in remission from major depressive disorders (MDD). The plasma VEGF levels were significantly higher in the MDD patients than in the matched control subjects, while no significant difference in plasma FGF-2 levels was found. In particular, the MDD patients with family history of psychiatric disorders, but not patients without such a family history, showed significantly higher values of plasma VEGF than the controls. Although this is a preliminary study, altered VEGF levels might be involved in the pathophysiology of MDD.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the Research Grants for Nervous and Mental Disorders from the NCNP, Health and Labor Sciences Research Grants (Research on Psychiatric and Neurological Diseases and Mental Health), a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), and JST, CREST.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, National Hospital Organization (NHO) Kure Medical Center, 3-1 Aoyama, Kure, 737-0023, Japan

    M. Takebayashi

  2. Division of Psychiatry and Neuroscience, Institute for Clinical Research, NHO Kure Medical Center, Kure, Japan

    M. Takebayashi, K. Hisaoka & M. Tsuchioka

  3. Department of Mental Disorder Research, National Institute of Neuroscience, National Center of Neurology and Psychiatry (NCNP), Tokyo, Japan

    R. Hashimoto & H. Kunugi

  4. Molecular Research Center for Children’s Mental Development, United Graduate School of Child Development, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan

    R. Hashimoto

  5. Kanazawa University School of Medicine, Kanazawa, Japan

    R. Hashimoto

  6. Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan

    R. Hashimoto

  7. Department of Psychiatry, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Osaka, Japan

    R. Hashimoto

  8. JST, CREST, Tokyo, Japan

    R. Hashimoto & H. Kunugi

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  1. M. Takebayashi
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  2. R. Hashimoto
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  3. K. Hisaoka
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  4. M. Tsuchioka
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  5. H. Kunugi
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Correspondence to M. Takebayashi.

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Takebayashi, M., Hashimoto, R., Hisaoka, K. et al. Plasma levels of vascular endothelial growth factor and fibroblast growth factor 2 in patients with major depressive disorders. J Neural Transm 117, 1119–1122 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-010-0452-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-010-0452-1

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