Pterin metabolism in depression: an extension of the amine hypothesis and possible marker of response to ECT

Urinary excretion of neopterins and biopterins was measured in 23 patients with severe depression before and after receiving electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and 26 healthy control subjects. Patients with psychotic depression and those responding to ECT had neopterin:biopterin (N:B) ratio significant...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Psychological medicine 1992-11, Vol.22 (4), p.863-869
Main Authors: Anderson, David N., Abou-Saleh, Mohammed T., Collins, James, Hughes, Kevin, Cattell, Richard J., Hamon, Christopher G. B., Blair, John A., Dewey, Michael E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Aged
Biological and medical sciences
Biomarkers
Depressive Disorder - diagnosis
Depressive Disorder - metabolism
Depressive Disorder - therapy
Electroconvulsive Therapy
Female
Humans
Male
Medical sciences
Middle Aged
Original Articles
Psychiatric Status Rating Scales
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Psychotropic Drugs - classification
Psychotropic Drugs - therapeutic use
Pterins - analysis
Pterins - metabolism
Pterins - urine
Treatments
Urine - chemistry
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Urinary excretion of neopterins and biopterins was measured in 23 patients with severe depression before and after receiving electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and 26 healthy control subjects. Patients with psychotic depression and those responding to ECT had neopterin:biopterin (N:B) ratio significantly higher than controls before commencing ECT and positive therapeutic response was associated with reduction of N:B ratio towards control values. As a raised N:B ratio implies failure to convert neopterin to biopterin it is possible that reduced availability of tetrahydrobiopterin, the essential cofactor for the formation of noradrenaline, serotonin and dopamine, may exert rate limiting control over the synthesis of monoamines implicated in the pathogenesis of depressive disorders. The N:B ratio may be a marker for certain depressive subtypes and response to ECT.
ISSN:0033-2917
1469-8978
DOI:10.1017/S0033291700038435