Examination of Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor, Glial Cell Line-Derived Neurotrophic Factor, and Neurotrophin-3 Levels and Brain Volumes in Shift-Working Men: Clinical Research

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to examine the levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) and neurotrophin-3 (NT-3) and brain volumes in shift-working men. Material and Methods: Forty-nine men who have been working in shifts for at least 1 year were included in the study. Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was used to assess sleep quality, Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) test and trail making test (TMT) were used to assess cognitive performance, and Beck Anxiety Inven-tory (BAI) was used to assess anxiety level. Afterwards, plasma BDNF, GDNF and NT-3 levels were examined. Brain volume measurement was performed. Re-sults: Since the PSQI results of shift-working men were above 5, it was determined that they had “poor sleep quality”. According to the BAI results, 85% of them had anxiety. Primary-secondary school graduate shift-working men had lower MoCA value and TMT-A and TMT-B test scores were higher (p<0.05). Working in shifts for 6 years or more caused a significant decrease in BDNF and NT-3 levels (p<0.05). According to the correlation analysis results, it was observed that the prefrontal cortex, dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and cerebral cortex in the left lobe of the brain were smaller in elderly shift workers (p[removed]