Effects of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) on the Schizophrenia model of animals

Schizophrenia（SCZ）is a common clinically chronic psychiatric disease, and there have no effective specific therapeutic drugs in clinical practice currently. Studies have shown that the expression level of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) in schizophrenics has decreased, so the expression level of BDNF has always been one of the evaluation indicators of SCZ. The neurotrophic factor hypothesis believes that increase or decrease of the expression level of BDNF may be one of the pathophysiological basis of SCZ. In this study, schizophrenic mice model with MK-801-induced glutamate dysfunction was established, and two doses of BDNF were administered to schizophrenic mice by intranasal administration. The four groups of mice: Control group, Model group, BDNF-20, BDNF-100 performed a series of behavioral tests to explore the effects of BDNF on sensory motor gating, anxiety, depression, social interaction, spontaneous activity, and memory in schizophrenic mice. Transcriptome sequencing of the BDNF high group and Model group in prefrontal cortex and hippocampus, using Metascape for gene function annotation and enrichment pathway analysis, to obtain BDNF transcription regulation information, understand the molecular mechanism of BDNF in SCZ further. Subsequently，immunofluorescence detected the effects of BDNF on neurons and glial cells in the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus. The results show that BDNF can improve the behavior of SCZ by regulating the construction of the nervous system, affecting the growth and distribution of neurons and glial cells, and changing inflammation and apoptosis in the brain. •BDNF acts primarily on neuronal system construction in the hippocampus and prefrontal cortex by transcriptome analysis.•BDNF ameliorates abnormal behaviors exhibited by MK801 mice.•Intranasal administration of BDNF can improve the density of neurons in the hippocampus of SCZ mice.•BDNF has selective regulation on different types of glial cells in different brain regions.