Amino acid metabolism, lipid metabolism, and oxidative stress are associated with post-stroke depression: a metabonomics study

• Published in: BMC neurology Vol. 20; no. 1; pp. 1 - 250
• Main Authors: Wang, Man, Gui, Xianwei, Wu, Lanxiang, Tian, Sheng, Wang, Hansen, Xie, Liang, Wu, Wei
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London BioMed Central Ltd 20.06.2020; BioMed Central; BMC
• Subjects: Amino acid metabolism; Amino acids; Betaine; Biomarkers; Brain-derived neurotrophic factor; Chromatography; Depression (Mood disorder); Discriminant analysis; EDTA; Gas chromatography; Glutamine; Hedonic response; Lipid metabolism; Liquid chromatography; Liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry; Mass spectrometry; Mass spectroscopy; Medical research; Mental depression; Metabolic disorders; Metabolites; Metabolomics; Metabonomics; Mood; Nervous system; Oxidative metabolism; Oxidative stress; p-Chlorophenylalanine; Palmitic acid; Patients; Physiological aspects; Plasma; Post-stroke depression; Principal components analysis; Saturated fatty acids; Schizophrenia; Scientific imaging; Serotonin; Software; Statistical analysis; Stroke; Tumor necrosis factor-TNF; United States > US; China
• ISSN: 1471-2377; 1471-2377
• DOI: 10.1186/s12883-020-01780-7

Abstract Background Post-stroke depression (PSD) is a mood disorder characterized by depression and anhedonia caused by stroke. Metabolomics identified metabolites associated with PSD, but previous studies are based on gas chromatography (GC)/mass spectrometry (MS). This study aimed to perform a liquid chromatography (LC)-MS-based metabolomics study of the plasma metabolite profiles between patients with PSD and controls. Methods This was a prospective study of patients with stroke enrolled between July and December 2017 at the Second Affiliated Hospital of Nanchang University. Patients were grouped as Hamilton Depression Rating Scale > 7 (PSD) or < 7 (controls). Metabonomics profiling of plasma sampled was conducted by LC-MS. By combining multivariable and univariable statistical analyses, significant differential metabolites between the two groups were screened. The threshold for significant differences was VIP ≥1 and P  < 0.05. Log 2 FC is the logarithm of the mean ratio between the two groups. Results There were no significant difference with respect to age, NIHSS score, and MMSE between the two groups (all P  > 0.05). There were six differential metabolites between the PSD and stroke groups, of which three metabolites were increased and three were decreased. Compared with the control group, p-chlorophenylalanine (Log 2 FC = 1.37, P  = 0.03), phenylacetyl glutamine (Log 2 FC = 0.21, P  = 0.048), and DHA (Log 2 FC = 0.77, P  = 0.01) levels were higher in the PSD group, while betaine (trimethylglycine) (Log 2 FC = − 0.79, P  = 0.04), palmitic acid (Log 2 FC = − 0.51, P  = 0.001), and MHPG-SO 4 (Log 2 FC = − 2.37, P  = 0.045) were decreased. Conclusion Plasma metabolomics showed that amino acid metabolism (phenylacetyl glutamine, p-chlorophenylalanine, trimethylglycine), lipid metabolism (DHA, palmitic acid, trimethylglycine), and oxidative stress (DHA, palmitic acid, trimethylglycine) were associated with PSD. These results could help to reveal the pathophysiological mechanism of PSD and eventually identify treatment targets.