New insight in expression, transport, and secretion of brain-derived neurotrophic factor: Implications in brain-related diseases

Figure 1 Schematic illustration of the activity-dependent regulators for Brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene transcription. A variety of transcriptional factors and regulators participate in the activity-induced transcription of BDNF. BDNF gene structure and Ca²⁺-dependent regulation in BDNF exon IV and epigenetic regulation at the exon IX promoter region are presented. We referred to the description by Zheng et al[38], also see[180]. BDNF: Brain-derived neurotrophic factor; CaRF: Calcium responsive factor; USF: Upstream stimulatory factors; BHLHB: Basic helix-loop-helix; CREB: Cyclic AMP-responsive element binding protein; NFκB: Nuclear factor-κB.