BDNF and depressive disorder: By contrast, direct injection of BDNF into the ventral tegmental area, a brain area that contains dopaminergic cell bodies, causes depression-like behavior, and blockade of BDNF signaling in the nucleus accumbens, a brain area involved in reward and hedonic behavior, produces antidepressant-like behavior (Eisch et al., 2003; Berton et al., 2006).