Abstract
This study was carried out to investigate plasma levels of excitatory amino acids, such as glutamate and aspartate, and glutamine, serine, glycine, taurine and histidine in major depression. The plasma amino acids were determined by means of HPLC in 22 normal controls and 25 unmedicated patients with major depression. Major depression was characterized by higher plasma taurine levels than normal controls. Significantly lower plasma glycine values and a higher serine/glycine ratio were observed in the depressed group. No significant differences in glutamine, histidine, serine or aspartate levels could be detected between the study groups. By means of linear discriminant analysis, a highly significant separation between major depressed subjects and normal volunteers was found using glycine, glutamate and taurine as discriminatory variables. No significant relationships between any of the amino acids and severity of depression could be found. The results suggest that major depression is accompanied by perturbations in the serine/glycine ratio, excitatory amino acids, such as glutamate, and inhibitory amino acids, such as taurine.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 71-75 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | European Neuropsychopharmacology |
| Volume | 5 |
| Issue number | SUPPL. 1 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 1995 |
Funding
The research reported was supported in part by USPHS MH 41684, GCRC MOIRR00080, and grants from the Elisabeth Severance Prentiss and John Pascal Sawyer Foundations and the Michael Kaplen Investigator Award to M. Maes. H.Y. Meltzer is the recipient of a USPHS Research Career Scientist Award MH 47808. The secretarial assistance of Mrs. M. Maes and Ms Lee Mason is greatly appreciated.
Keywords
- Amino acids
- Aspartate
- Depression
- Glutamate
- Glutamine
- Glycine
- Histidine
- Serine
- Taurine
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Clinical Neurology
- Neurology
- Psychiatry and Mental health
- Pharmacology (medical)
- Biological Psychiatry
- Pharmacology
