ADVERTISEMENT
Key Enzyme Found to Be Less Active in People Who Attempt Suicide
An enzyme that regulates inflammation and its byproducts is less active in people who have attempted suicide, according to a recent study in Translational Psychiatry.
Researchers made the discovery after analyzing metabolites—byproducts formed during infection and inflammation—in the blood and cerebrospinal fluid of people who have attempted suicide. Such individuals have inflammation in their blood and cerebrospinal fluid, previous research has demonstrated.
MORE: OCD Increases Suicide Risk Tenfold, Analysis Shows
Specifically, the new analysis showed that picolinic acid, a substance produced by the enzyme amino-β-carboxymuconate-semialdehyde-decarboxylase (ACMSD), is reduced in the plasma and spinal fluid of people exhibiting suicidal behavior. Meanwhile, quinolinic acid—an inflammatory substance that binds to and activates the brain’s glutamate receptors—is increased.
Typically, ACMSD maintains an important balance by producing picolinic acid at the expense of quinolinic acid.
“We believe that people who have reduced activity of the enzyme are especially vulnerable to developing depression and suicidal tendencies when they suffer from various infections or inflammation,” said researcher Lena Brundin, MD, PhD, of the Van Andel Research Institute, Grand Rapids, Michigan. “We also believe that inflammation is likely to easily become chronic in people with impaired activity of ACMSD.”
“We now want to find out if these changes are only seen in individuals with suicidal thoughts or if patients with severe depression also exhibit this,” added researcher Sophie Erhardt, PhD, a professor in the department of physiology and pharmacology at the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm. “We also want to develop drugs that might activate the enzyme ACMSD and thus restore the balance between quinolinic and picolinic acid.”
—Jolynn Tumolo
References
