Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Intricate role of sleep deprivation in modulating depression: focusing on BDNF, VEGF, serotonin, cortisol, and TNF-α

  • Review Article
  • Published:
Metabolic Brain Disease Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In this review article, we aimed to discuss intricate roles of SD in modulating depression in preclinical and clinical studies. Decades of research have shown the inconsistent effects of SD on depression, focusing on SD duration. However, inconsistent role of SD seems to be more complicated, and SD duration cannot be the only one factor. Regarding this issue, we chose some important factors involved in the effects of SD on cognitive functions and mood including brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), serotonin, cortisol, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α). It was concluded that SD has a wide-range of inconsistent effects on BDNF, VEGF, serotonin, and cortisol levels. It was noted that BDNF diurnal rhythm is significantly involved in the modulatory role of SD in depression. Furthermore, the important role of VEGF in blood–brain barrier permeability which is involved in modulating depression was discussed. It was also noted that there is a negative correlation between cortisol and BDNF that modulates depression. Eventually, it was concluded that TNF-α regulates sleep/wake cycle and is involved in the vulnerability to cognitive and behavioral impairments following SD. TNF-α also increases the permeability of the blood–brain barrier which is accompanied by depressive behavior. In sum, it was suggested that future studies should focus on these mechanisms/factors to better investigate the reasons behind intricate roles of SD in modulating depression.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

Not applicable.

References

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

S.V. idea for the article and writing; A.M., MS. A., G. KH. literature search and writing; R. GH. and MR. Z. drafted and revised the work. All authors approved the final version.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Salar Vaseghi.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Vaseghi, S., Mostafavijabbari, A., Alizadeh, MS. et al. Intricate role of sleep deprivation in modulating depression: focusing on BDNF, VEGF, serotonin, cortisol, and TNF-α. Metab Brain Dis 38, 195–219 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11011-022-01124-z

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11011-022-01124-z

Keywords

Navigation