Deprivation of endogenous brain-derived neurotrophic factor results in impairment of spatial learning and memory in adult rats

Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is abundantly expressed in the hip pocampus and cerebral cortex and is involved in synaptic plasticity and lon g-term potentiation (LTP). The present study was under taken to investigate whether endogenous BDNF was required for spatial learning and memory in a rat model. Antibodies to BDNF(anti-BDNF, n = 7) or control immunoglobulin G (control, n = 6) were delivered into the rat brain continuously for 7 days with an osmotic pump. The rats were then subjected to a battery of behavio ral tests. The results show that the average escape latencies in the BDNF a ntibody treated group were dramatically longer than those of the control (F = 13.3, p < 0.001). The rats treated with control IgG swam for a significa ntly longer distance in the P quadrant (where the escape plane had been pla ced) compared with the other three quadrants (p < 0.05). In contrast, anti- BDNF-treated rats swam an equivalent distance in all four quadrants. The av erage percentage of swimming distance in the P quadrant by anti-BDNF-treate d rats was much less than that by control IgG treated rats (p < 0.001). The se results suggest that endogenous BDNF is required for spatial learning an d memory in adult rats. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.