重性抑郁障碍患者血浆天冬氨酸和甘氨酸及天冬酰胺水平的变化

Alterations of plasma aspartic acid,glycine and asparagine levels in patients with major depressive disorder

目的:分析重性抑郁障碍患者(Major depressive disorder,MDD)血浆兴奋性氨基酸类神经递质天冬氨酸(Aspartic acid,Asp)和抑制性神经递质甘氨酸(Glycine,Gly),以及氨基酸天冬酰胺(Asparagine,Asn)水平的变化。方法:收集15例首发重性抑郁障碍患者(男9例,女6例,年龄32～64岁)和14例健康对照者(男7例,女7例,年龄30～65岁)的血浆,其中7例MDD患者(男5例,女2例)在抗抑郁治疗两月后的随访中再次留取血浆。采用高效液相色谱—荧光法测定血浆中Asp、Gly、Asn含量。结果:(1)MDD患者血浆Asp、Gly水平均显著低于健康对照组(P≤0.033),Asn水平和健康对照组相比无显著差异(P=0.208)。(2)在健康对照组,血浆Gly与Asp、Asn水平分别呈现显著正相关(P≤0.004)。在MDD患者,血浆Gly水平与Asp水平的相关性消失(P=0.538),而Gly水平和Asn水平保持相关性(P<0.001)。(3)抗抑郁治疗两个月后MDD患者临床症状显著改善,血浆Asp、Gly、Asn水平和治疗前相比无显著差异(P≥0.306),氨基酸水平之间的相关性也无改变。结论:血浆Asp和Gly水平降低可能是MDD的一个特征性生物学指标。

Objective： To evaluate the changes of plasma levels of the excitatory amino acid neurotransmitter aspartic acid（Asp）,inhibitory neurotransmitter glycine（Gly） and asparagine（Asn） in patients with major depressive disorder（MDD）.Methods： Plasma samples were collected from 15 MDD patients（9 males and 6 females,aged 32-64 y） and 14 healthy subjects（7 males and 7 females,aged 30-65 y）;and also collected from 7 MDD patients（5 males and 2 females） 2 months after antidepressant treatment.The plasma levels of amino acids were determined by high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection method.Results： Plasma Asp and Gly levels were significantly lower in MDD patients than those in controls（P≤0.033）.There were positive correlations between plasma levels of Gly and Asp,and between Gly and Asn（P≤0.004） in the control group;while in MDD patients,a significant positive correlation was found only between plasma levels of Gly and of Asp（P0.001）.MDD patients did not show significant changes in plasma Asp,Asn and Gly levels after antidepressant treatment compared to those before treatment.Conclusion： The reduced plasma Asp and Gly levels may serve as a clinical biomarker for MDD.