Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

BDNF val66met polymorphism is associated with modified experience-dependent plasticity in human motor cortex

  • Brief Communication
  • Published:

From Nature Neuroscience

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Abstract

Motor training can induce profound physiological plasticity within primary motor cortex, including changes in corticospinal output and motor map topography. Using transcranial magnetic stimulation, we show that training-dependent increases in the amplitude of motor-evoked potentials and motor map reorganization are reduced in healthy subjects with a val66met polymorphism in the brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene (BDNF), as compared to subjects without the polymorphism. The results suggest that BDNF is involved in mediating experience-dependent plasticity of human motor cortex.

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

Access this article

Log in via an institution

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

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1: Changes in motor map area with training.
Figure 2: Changes in MEP amplitude, map volume and center of gravity with training.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Classen, J. et al. J. Neurophysiol. 79, 1117–1123 (1998).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Pascual-Leone, A. J. Neurophysiol. 74, 1037–1045 (1995).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Monfils, M.H., Plautz, E.J. & Kleim, J.A. Neuroscientist 11, 471–483 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Lu, B. Learn. Mem. 10, 86–98 (2003).

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  5. Klintsova, A.Y., Dickson, E., Yoshida, R. & Greenough, W.T. Brain Res. 1028, 92–104 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Pezawas, L. et al. J. Neurosci. 24, 10099–10102 (2004).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Egan, M.F. et al. Cell. 112, 257–269 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Hariri, A.R. et al. J. Neurosci. 23, 6690–6694 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Sen, S. et al. Neuropsychopharmacology 28, 397–401 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Oefner, P.J. & Underhill, P.A. in Current Protocols in Human Genetics (eds. Dracopoli, N.C. et al.) 7.10.1–7.10.12 (John Wiley and Sons, New York, 1998).

    Google Scholar 

  11. Wolf, S.L. et al. Clin. Neurophysiol. 115, 1740–1747 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Zakharenko, S.S. et al. Neuron 39, 975–990 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Dempster, E. et al. Am. J. Med. Genet. B Neuropsychiatr. Genet. 134, 73–75 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Kleim, J.A., Jones, T.A. & Schallert, T. Neurochem. Res. 28, 1757–1769 (2003).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We thank S. Wolf, E. Orr, D. Ro and V. Le. Studies were carried out in the General Clinical Research Center, College of Medicine, University of California Irvine, with funds provided by the National Center for Research Resources (5M01RR 00827-29, NS-45563) and the US Public Health Service. Work was conducted while J.A.K. was on a leave of absence from the Canadian Centre for Behavioural Neuroscience at the University of Lethbridge.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Brain Research Rehabilitation Center, Malcom Randall VA Hospital, 1601 SW Archer Road, Gainesville, 32608, Florida, USA

    Jeffrey A Kleim & Erin Pringle

  2. Department of Neuroscience, Mcknight Brain Institute, University of Florida, PO Box 100244, Gainesville, 32610, Florida, USA

    Jeffrey A Kleim & Erin Pringle

  3. Departments of Neurology and Anatomy & Neurobiology, University of California Irvine Medical Center, 101 The City Drive, Building 53, Room 203, Orange, 92868, California, USA

    Sheila Chan, Kellan Schallert & Steven C Cramer

  4. Department of Pediatrics, University of California Irvine, 2034 Hewitt Hall, Irvine, 92697, California, USA

    Vincent Procaccio & Richard Jimenez

  5. Center for Molecular and Mitochondrial Medicine and Genetics, University of California Irvine, 2034 Hewitt Hall, Irvine, 92697, California, USA

    Vincent Procaccio

Authors
  1. Jeffrey A Kleim
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Sheila Chan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Erin Pringle
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Kellan Schallert
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Vincent Procaccio
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Richard Jimenez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Steven C Cramer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jeffrey A Kleim.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Table 1

Mean (+/− s.e.m.) MEP amplitude for all genotypes pre- and post-training. (PDF 50 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Kleim, J., Chan, S., Pringle, E. et al. BDNF val66met polymorphism is associated with modified experience-dependent plasticity in human motor cortex. Nat Neurosci 9, 735–737 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1699

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nn1699

  • Springer Nature America, Inc.

This article is cited by

Search

Navigation