CHICAGO – In a study of 100 people who attempted suicide, researchers found the persons all had elevated levels of proinflammatory cytokines in their blood, according to a presentation made at this year’s annual conference of the Anxiety and Depression Association of America.
Now the study’s lead investigator, Dr. Lena C. Brundin of the department of translational science & molecular medicine at Michigan State University, Grand Rapids, seeks to replicate her findings across a larger population with varying degrees of suicidal ideation, to see whether specific biomarkers can be identified to determine which patients are at elevated risk and develop targeted therapies for inflammation to reduce that risk.
In an interview, Dr. Brundin explains her hypothesis for the mechanisms of this neuroinflammatory response: that metabolites in the kynurenine pathway adversely affect glutamate neurotransmission (kynurenic acid is an antagonist of the glutamatergic N-methyl-D-aspartate [NMDA] receptor), creating "very profound and strong effects" on the brain, and possibly contributing to suicidal ideation.
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