PMID: 8588060Jul 1, 1995Paper

Neutral amino acid availability in two major psychiatric disorders

Progress in Neuro-psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry
A LuccaE Smeraldi

Abstract

1. Evidence suggests catecholamines and indoleamines may play a role in the pathogenesis of several psychiatric disorders. These neurotransmitters (i.e. dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin) are synthesized within the human brain from their precursors, the aromatic large neutral amino acids tyrosine and tryptophan. Other large neutral amino acids, namely valine, isoleucine, leucine and phenylalanine affect precursor availability by competing with tryptophan and tyrosine for the transport system across the blood brain barrier. 2. The authors evaluated the brain availability of L-tryptophan and tyrosine in a sample of psychiatric patients with a diagnosis of major depression and schizophrenia. 3. The present results suggest a possible usefulness of Tryptophan/Large Neutral Amino Acids ratio in distinguishing major depression from schizophrenia, while Tyrosine/Large Neutral Amino Acids ratio shows a very limited usefulness. The absolute need of powerful and accurate statistical analysis to evaluate the power of a biological test clearly stands out from the present study.

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Citations

Mar 14, 2009·Clinical Biochemistry·Laura BazzichiAntonio Lucacchini
Jul 19, 2005·European Neuropsychopharmacology : the Journal of the European College of Neuropsychopharmacology·R HoekstraW M A Verhoeven
Jan 1, 1996·Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica. Supplementum·N A Keks
Mar 1, 2002·The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews·K ShawC Del Mar
Nov 1, 2001·The Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews·K ShawC Del Mar

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