Chronic ethanol administration decreases brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene expression in the rat hippocampus.

We have previously demonstrated that chronic ethanol consumption decreases neurotrophic activity in hippocampal extracts, as assessed by a chick dorsal root ganglia bioassay, but has no effect on hippocampal NGF mRNA or NGF protein levels. We presently report that hippocampal mRNAs encoding neurotrophin-3 and basic fibroblast growth factor are also unaffected. However, in contrast, brain-derived neurotrophic factor mRNA is reliably decreased, thereby suggesting that ethanol-induced damage of the septohippocampal system may at least partially result from an ethanol-induced decrease in hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor expression.