Investigation of serum BDNF levels in alcohol withdrawal syndrome with and without other medical co-morbidities.

Introduction: Consequences of alcohol use disorder (AUD) are associated with mental and somatic burdens that result in alcohol withdrawal syndrome (AWS), with 30% of AWS cases leading to life-threatening delirium tremens (DTs). So far, biomarkers for tracking abstinence syndrome that are useful in clinical practice have yet to be detected. Current research focuses on brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) effects on neurogenesis, modulation of plasticity, and its role in the pathogenesis of AWS and DTs.

Aims: The present study aimed to assess pro-BDNF and BDNF concentrations in a group of patients with AWS. Changes in BDNF and prof-BDNF were also evaluated with attention to subgroups of patients with coexisting mental and somatic disorders, with a particular emphasis on the presence or absence of DTs.

Results: The AWS group had a higher concentration of BDNF and a lower concentration of pro-BDNF compared to the control group, and BDNF increased during 7 days of hospitalisation. Patients with comorbid psychiatric disorders had higher levels of pro-BDNF than those without disease and also had higher levels of BDNF at the end of the study than at the beginning. On the other hand, patients with coexisting somatic diseases had higher levels of pro-BDNF at the beginning than at the end of the study, while patients with delirium had higher BDNF levels at the end of the study than at the beginning.

Conclusions: The obtained results indicate that pro-BDNF and BDNF may be useful markers for the course of withdrawal syndrome. In particular, BDNF showed an association with the development of delirium complications. The authors are aware of several limitations of the work only men in the SG, different age between SG and CG.