BDNF and depressive disorder: Preclinical studies suggest that BDNF acts within the ventral tegmental area (VTA) – nucleus accumbens (NAc) pathway, to induce a depression-like phenotype, whereas it produces antidepressant-like effects in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and hippocampus6, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34.