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Kynurenine pathway and white matter microstructure in bipolar disorder

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European Archives of Psychiatry and Clinical Neuroscience Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Decreased availability of serotonin in the central nervous system has been suggested to be a central factor in the pathogenesis of depression. Activation of indoleamine 2–3 dioxygenase following a pro-inflammatory state could reduce the amount of tryptophan converted to serotonin and increase the production of tryptophan catabolites such as kynurenic acid, an antagonist of ionotropic excitatory aminoacid receptors, whose levels are reduced in bipolar disorder. Abnormalities in white matter (WM) integrity have been widely reported in BD. We then hypothesized that metabolites involved in serotoninergic turnover in BD could influence DTI measures of WM microstructure. Peripheral levels of tryptophan, kynurenine, kynurenic acid, 3-hydroxy-kynurenine, and 5-HIAA were analysed in 22 patients affected by BD and 15 healthy controls. WM microstructure was evaluated using diffusion tensor imaging and tract-based spatial statistics with threshold-free cluster enhancement only in bipolar patients. We observed that kynurenic acid and 5-HIAA were reduced in BD and associated with DTI measures of WM integrity in several association fibres: inferior and superior longitudinal fasciculus, cingulum bundle, corpus callosum, uncus, anterior thalamic radiation and corona radiata. Our results seem to suggest that higher levels of 5-HIAA, a measure of serotonin levels, and higher levels of kynurenic acid, which protects from glutamate excitotoxicity, could exert a protective effect on WM microstructure. Reduced levels of these metabolites in BD thus seem to confirm a crucial role of serotonin turnover in BD pathophysiology.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by the European Union EU-FP7-HEALTH-F2-2008-222963 “MOODINFLAME”.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Clinical Neurosciences, San Raffaele Turro, Istituto Scientifico Ospedale San Raffaele, University Vita-Salute San Raffaele, Via Stamira D’Ancona 20, Milan, Italy

    Sara Poletti, Irene Bollettini, Elena Mazza, Clara Locatelli, Cristina Colombo & Francesco Benedetti

  2. Psychiatry Department, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich, Germany

    Aye Mu Myint

  3. Institute for Laboratory Medicine of Munich University, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich, Germany

    Gregor Schüetze & Markus Schwarz

  4. Clinical Chemistry, Ludwig-Maximilian University, Munich, Germany

    Doris Grillitsch

Authors
  1. Sara Poletti
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  2. Aye Mu Myint
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  3. Gregor Schüetze
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  4. Irene Bollettini
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  5. Elena Mazza
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  6. Doris Grillitsch
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  7. Clara Locatelli
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  8. Markus Schwarz
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  9. Cristina Colombo
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  10. Francesco Benedetti
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sara Poletti.

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All authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Poletti, S., Myint, A.M., Schüetze, G. et al. Kynurenine pathway and white matter microstructure in bipolar disorder. Eur Arch Psychiatry Clin Neurosci 268, 157–168 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-016-0731-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00406-016-0731-4

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