João Freira

By Tatiana Marins Farias, Rebeca Ataíde Cerqueira, Danton Ferraz Sousa, João Vitor Costa Freire, Ana Carolina Tavares Lopes and Silvia Fernanda Lima De Moura Cal

An increase in the prevalence of anxiety disorders (ADs), in individual, social, and economic losses, due to the high prevalence, chronicity, and disability of the individual besides the growth of multiple environmental stressors that are related to lifestyles, has been observed, which are all more harmful to one’s health, and associated with genetic inheritances, among other factors. This reality may contribute to the risk of losing neurological functions, for example, cognition and memory, as well as to the development of more severe psychiatric disorders, with high levels of heritability and risk of suicide. Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) is one of the most abundant neurotrophins in the human brain. Studies with neurotrophins allowed the introduction of one more hypothesis, called neurotrophic hypothesis, that would explain the physiopathology of mental disorders (MD), where deficits of neuroplasticity would occur and cause atrophy of certain regions of the brain (mainly cortical and the hippocampus), contributing to the development of mental disorders. Knowing the neurobiology of the ADs, as well as its relation to BDNF levels, may contribute to preventive actions regarding the said disorder in the general population. The objective of this chapter is to analyze the relation between levels of BDNF and AD.

Part of the book: Neurological and Mental Disorders