System Maintenance Notice

Please note that maintenance work is scheduled between 4 AM and 5 AM - CET. During this time, you may experience reduced performance. Thanks for your patience.

Publications

Journal Article Epublish

PubMed: 40495854 DOI: 10.5498/wjp.v15.i5.102618

Alterations of serum metabolic profile in major depressive disorder: A case-control study in the Chinese population.

World J Psychiatry 15(5):102618

Authors: Bing Cao, Yuan-Li Liu, Na Wang, Yan Huang, Chen-Xuan Lu, Qian-Ying Li, Hong-Yu Zou

Affiliations

  • Key Laboratory of Cognition and Personality, Faculty of Psychology, Ministry of Education, Southwest University, Chongqing 400715, China.
  • Department of Laboratory Medicine, Jiulongpo District Psychiatric Health Center of Chongqing, Chongqing 401329, China.
  • Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical and Pharmaceutical College, Chongqing 400000, China.

Abstract

BACKGROUND

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is characterized by persistent depressed mood and cognitive symptoms. This study aimed to discover biomarkers for MDD, explore its pathological mechanisms, and examine the associations of the identified biomarkers with clinical and psychological variables.

AIM

To discover candidate biomarkers for MDD identification and provide insight into the pathological mechanism of MDD.

METHODS

The current study adopted a single-center cross-sectional case-control design. Serum samples were obtained from 100 individuals diagnosed with MDD and 97 healthy controls (HCs) aged between 18 to 60 years. Metabolomics was performed on an Ultimate 3000 UHPLC system coupled with Q-Exactive MS (Thermo Scientific). The online software Metaboanalyst 6.0 was used to process and analyze the acquired raw data of peak intensities from the instrument.

RESULTS

The study included 100 MDD patients and 97 HCs. Metabolomic profiling identified 35 significantly different metabolites (e.g., cortisol, sebacic acid, and L-glutamic acid). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis highlighted 8-HETE, 10-HDoHE, cortisol, 12-HHTrE, and 10-hydroxydecanoic acid as top diagnostic biomarkers for MDD. Significant correlations were found between metabolites (e.g., some lipids, steroids, and amino acids) and clinical and psychological variables.

CONCLUSION

Our study reported metabolites (some lipids, steroids, amino acids, carnitines, and alkaloids) responsible for discriminating MDD patients and HCs. This metabolite profile may enable the development of a laboratory-based diagnostic test for MDD. The mechanisms underlying the association between psychological or clinical variables and differential metabolites deserve further exploration.

MeSH

Serum, Amino Acids, Case-Control Studies, Biomarkers, Depressive Disorder, Metabolomics, Hydrocortisone, Steroids, Glutamic Acid, Depressive Disorder, Major