Investigation of the effect of electroconvulsive treatment on serum glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor levels in patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder

Objective: A relationship between glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and the etiology of schizophrenia (SCH) and bipolar disorder (BD) has been reported. GDNF, in addition to the other neurotrophic factors, may play a role in the mechanism of action of electroconvulsive treatment (ECT). The primary objective of this study was to investigate the effect of ECT on the serum GDNF levels before and after the administration of ECT. Method: Thirty male inpatients undergoing treatment for SCH (n=20) or BD (n=10) and 28 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects were included in the study. The serum GDNF levels of the patients were measured both before and after the ECT administration using the commercially available enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay kits. Results: The serum GDNF levels of the patients with BD (p=0.013) but not SCH (p=0.998) showed a statistically significant change after ECT. The mean serum GDNF level of all patients (SCH and BD) was not statistically significantly different from the healthy control subjects prior to the ECT administration (p=0.177). Conclusion: The current study is the first to report a comparison of the serum GDNF levels after ECT in patients with SCH and BD. The findings of this study do not support the hypothesis of a definitive relationship between serum GDNF levels and outcomes of ECT in patients with SCH, but do support such a relationship in patients with BD.