Interaction Effect between Physical Activity and the BDNF Val66Met Polymorphism on Depression in Women from the PISMA-ep Study Zarza Rebollo, Juan Antonio Molina Rivas, Esther López Isac, Elena Pérez Gutiérrez, Ana María Gutiérrez Martínez, Blanca Cervilla Ballesteros, Jorge Antonio Rivera Sánchez, Margarita Depression Physical activity BDNF Val66Met rs6265 This study was partially funded by the Consejeria de Salud, Junta de Andalucia (PI3222009), Consejeria de Innovacion, Proyecto de Excelencia (CTS-2010-6682), the Institute of Health Carlos III (Co-funded by European Regional Development Fund/European Social Fund "A way to make Europe"/"Investing in your future") (projects PI18/00238 and PI18/00467), the Marie Curie Research Grants Scheme (FP7 626235), and by a NARSAD Young Investigator Grant from the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation (22514). Juan Antonio Zarza-Rebollo was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (BES-2017-082698). Elena Lopez-Isac received financial support from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation Juan de la Cierva Incorporacion Program (grant code IJC2019-040080-I/AEI/10.13039/501100011033). AnaMPerez-Gutierrez was supported by a grant from the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and Institute of Health Carlos III (FI19/00228), and Margarita Rivera was supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness Ramon y Cajal Program (RYC-2014-15774). The relationship between depression and the Val66Met polymorphism at the brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene (BDNF), has been largely studied. It has also been related to physical activity, although the results remain inconclusive. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between this polymorphism, depression and physical activity in a thoroughly characterised sample of community-based individuals from the PISMA-ep study. A total of 3123 participants from the PISMAep study were genotyped for the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism, of which 209 had depression. Our results are in line with previous studies reporting a protective effect of physical activity on depression, specifically in light intensity. Interestingly, we report a gene-environment interaction effect in which Met allele carriers of the BDNF Val66Met polymorphism who reported more hours of physical activity showed a decreased prevalence of depression. This effect was observed in the total sample (OR = 0.95, 95%CI = 0.90–0.99, p = 0.027) and was strengthened in women (OR = 0.93, 95%CI = 0.87–0.98, p = 0.019). These results highlight the potential role of physical activity as a promising therapeutic strategy for preventing and adjuvant treatment of depression and suggest molecular and genetic particularities of depression between sexes. 2022-04-05T06:42:57Z 2022-04-05T06:42:57Z 2022-02-12 info:eu-repo/semantics/article Zarza-Rebollo, J.A... [et al.]. Interaction Effect between Physical Activity and the BDNF Val66Met Polymorphism on Depression in Women from the PISMA-ep Study. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 2068. [https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19042068] http://hdl.handle.net/10481/74118 10.3390/ijerph19042068 eng info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/EC/FP7/626235 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/ info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Atribución 3.0 España MDPI