Bdnf - brain derived neurotrophic factor

The protein encoded by this gene is a member of the nerve growth factor family. It is involved in the growth, differentiation and survival of specific types of developing neurons both in the central nervous system (CNS) and the peripheral nervous system. It is also involved in regulating synaptic plasticity in the CNS. Expression of a similar gene in human is reduced in both Alzheimer's and Huntington disease patients. Alternative splicing results in multiple transcript variants encoding different isoforms that may undergo similar processing to generate mature protein. [provided by RefSeq, Oct 2015]