PPARGC1A and Anxiety: Furthermore, PGC-1α and BDNF levels have also been altered in rodents with anxiety-like behavior (Govindarajan et al., 2006; Szalardy et al., 2018), and both PGC-1α and BDNF can have anxiolytic properties (Agrawal et al., 2014; Xie et al., 2019).