A recent study using a rat-model (Chen et al., 2018) found that over-expression of hippocampal FXR mediated chronic unpredictable stress-induced depression-like behaviors and decreased hippocampal brain-derived neurotrophic factor expression, and that knocking out of hippocampal FXR completely prevented depressive behaviors via brain-derived neurotrophic factor expression. Here, BDNF is linked to depressive disorder.