Original Research Article
Brain-derived neurotrophic factor Val66Met and blood glucose: a synergistic effect on memory
Naftali Raz 1, 2*, Cheryl L. Dahle 2, Karen M. Rodrigue 2, Kristen M. Kennedy 2, Susan J. Land 3 and Bradley S. Jacobs 4
1 Department of Psychology, Wayne State University, USA
2 Institute of Gerontology, Wayne State University, USA
3 Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wayne State University, USA
4 Department of Internal Medicine, Neurology, Wright State University, USA
2 Institute of Gerontology, Wayne State University, USA
3 Obstetrics and Gynecology, Wayne State University, USA
4 Department of Internal Medicine, Neurology, Wright State University, USA
Age-related declines in episodic memory performance are frequently reported, but their mechanisms remain poorly understood. Although several genetic variants and vascular risk factors have been linked to mnemonic performance in general and age differences therein, it is unknown whether and how they modify age-related memory declines. To address that question, we investigated the effect of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) Val66Met polymorphism that affects secretion of BDNF, and fasting blood glucose level (a vascular risk factor) on episodic memory in a sample of healthy volunteers (age 19-77). We found that advanced age and high-normal blood glucose levels were associated with reduced recognition memory for name-face associations and poorer prose recall. However, elevated blood glucose predicted lower memory scores only in carriers of the BDNF 66Met allele. The effect on associative memory was stronger than on free recall. These findings indicate that even low-level vascular risk can produce negative cognitive effects in genetically susceptible individuals. Alleviation of treatable vascular risks in such persons may have a positive effect on age-related cognitive declines.
Keywords: aging, BDNF, memory, vascular risk, single nucleotide polymorphism, paired-associates, recognition, free recall
Copyright: © 2008 Raz, Dahle, Rodrigue, Kennedy, Land and Jacobs. This is an open-access article subject to an exclusive license agreement between the authors and the Frontiers Research Foundation, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original authors and source are credited.
*Correspondence: Naftali Raz, Institute of Gerontology, Knapp Building, 87 East Ferry St., Dettroit, MI 48202, USA. e-mail: nraz@wayne.edu
Citation: Raz N, Dahle CL, Rodrigue KM, Kennedy KM, Land SJ and Jacobs BS (2008) Brain-derived neurotrophic factor Val66Met and blood glucose: a synergistic effect on memory. Front. Hum. Neurosci. (2008) 2:12. doi:10.3389/neuro.09.012.2008
Received: 04 August 2008; paper pending published: 31 August 2008; accepted: 18 September 2008; published online: 03 October 2008.
Edited by:
William J. Jagust, University of California Berkeley, USA
Reviewed by:
Bradford C. Dickerson, Harvard Medical School, USA
William J. Jagust, University of California Berkeley, USA
William J. Jagust, University of California Berkeley, USA
*Correspondence: Naftali Raz, Institute of Gerontology, Knapp Building, 87 East Ferry St., Dettroit, MI 48202, USA. e-mail: nraz@wayne.edu
