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Decreased plasma agmatine levels in autistic subjects

  • Psychiatry and Preclinical Psychiatric Studies - Original Article
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Abstract

Agmatine is a polyamine endogenously synthesized from arginine and is considered to be a new neurotransmitter. Agmatine has been implicated in the pathophysiology of several diseases such as anxiety disorder, depression, and schizophrenia. Agmatine also possesses anticonvulsant, neuroprotective, antiapoptotic, antioxidant, anxiolytic, and antidepressant effects. Furthermore, agmatine inhibits the nitric oxide synthase enzyme and exerts antagonist effects on NMDA, alpha-2, and imidazoline receptors. Considering these characteristics, the present study investigated whether agmatine plays a role in the pathogenesis of autistic spectrum disorders (ASDs). Therefore, plasma agmatine levels were evaluated in 34 patients with ASD and 28 non-ASD controls. Plasma agmatine levels were measured using the HPLC method. The study found remarkably lower agmatine levels in patients with ASD compared with the non-ASD control group (p < 0.001). These findings support the notion that agmatine might contribute to the pathogenesis of ASD and may serve as a new target for treatment.

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Funding

The present study was supported by Ordu University Scientific Research Project (Project no: AR-1520).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Research and Training Hospital, Ordu University, 52200, Ordu, Turkey

    Erman Esnafoglu

  2. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science and Art, Ordu University Central Research Laboratory, Ordu University, Ordu, Turkey

    İlhan İrende

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  1. Erman Esnafoglu
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  2. İlhan İrende
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Contributions

Dr. EE produced the idea and planned the study. In addition, he recruited the subjects, performed clinical and diagnostic evaluation and statistical analyses, and wrote the manuscript. Dr. İİ studied the samples with HPLC and contributed to the manuscript writing process. Both authors approved the final version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Erman Esnafoglu.

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Esnafoglu, E., İrende, İ. Decreased plasma agmatine levels in autistic subjects. J Neural Transm 125, 735–740 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00702-017-1836-2

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