7,8-Dihydroxyflavone (7,8-DHF) is a flavone reported in 2010 as a high-affinity small-molecule agonist of tropomyosin receptor kinase B (TrkB), the receptor for brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). It has since been studied in rodent models of excitotoxicity, stroke, Parkinson's disease, depression and Alzheimer's disease, and a carbamate prodrug, R13, was developed to improve its bioavailability. Its standing as a direct TrkB agonist is contested. A 2017 study that set up multiplex quantitative assays of TrkB activation, downstream signalling and gene expression could not reproduce the activity of previously reported small-molecule TrkB agonists, a group to which 7,8-DHF belongs, and its authors advised careful interpretation of results obtained with them.