Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-9pm4c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-25T08:37:02.371Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Daily Rhythm of Plasma Tryptophan and Tyrosine in Depression

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

Pekka Niskanen ,
Matti Huttunen ,
Tapani Tamminen  and
Juha Jääskeläinen
Pekka Niskanen
Affiliation:
Psychiatric Clinic of Helsinki University Central Hospital, Lapinlahdentie, 00180 Helsinki 18, Finland
Matti Huttunen
Affiliation:
Psychiatric Clinic of Helsinki University Central Hospital, Lapinlahdentie, 00180 Helsinki 18, Finland
Tapani Tamminen
Affiliation:
Psychiatric Clinic of Helsinki University Central Hospital, Lapinlahdentie, 00180 Helsinki 18, Finland
Juha Jääskeläinen
Affiliation:
Psychiatric Clinic of Helsinki University Central Hospital, Lapinlahdentie, 00180 Helsinki 18, Finland
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The study dealt with the level of and diurnal alterations in the concentration of tryptophan, free tryptophan and tyrosine in the blood plasma of 20 inhibited depression patients and 10 healthy controls.

The results suggested that there was no distinct relationship between either the total plasma tryptophan or plasma tyrosine level and depression. On the other hand, the free plasma tryptophan level was, at all the times of day at which measurements were made, either significantly or almost significantly higher in the patients than in the controls. It was further found that the results of measurement were related to the patients’ clinical improvement, as measured by the Hamilton test, in such a way that after four weeks of treatment the free plasma tryptophan level in ‘poorly improved’ patients continued to be significantly higher in comparison with the controls, whereas the values for the ‘well improved’ patient group did not differ greatly from the corresponding values for the control group any longer.

It may be hypothesized that the rise in the free plasma tryptophan in depressive patients might represent an effort made by the peripheral body to compensate for the slowed-up serotonin metabolism of the brain, whereby the tryptophan mobilized from the periphery would serve as a sort of ‘endogenous antidepressant’ provided by the organism itself.

Type
Research Article
Information
The British Journal of Psychiatry , Volume 128 , Issue 1 , January 1976 , pp. 67 - 73
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1976 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Ambrozi, L., Riederer, P., Birkmayer, W. & Neumayer, E. (1974) Zur Statistik des Tyrosin-Tryptophan-Diagramms bei der Depression. Dtsch. med. Wschr., 99, 1087–9.Google ScholarPubMed
Benkert, O., Renz, A., Marano, C. & Matussek, N. (1971) Altered tyrosine daytime plasma levels in endogenous depressive patients. Arch. gen. Psychiat., 25, 359–64.Google Scholar
Birkmayer, W. & Linauer, W. (1970) Störung des Tyrosin- und Tryptophanmetabolismus bei Depression. Arch. Psychiat. Nervenkr., 213, 377–86.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coppen, A. (1967) The biochemistry of affective disorders. Brit. J. Psychiat., 113, 1237–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coppen, A. J., Shaw, D. M., Herzberg, B. & Maggs, R. (1967) Tryptophan in the treatment of depression. Lancet, ii, 1178–80.Google Scholar
Coppen, A. J., Eccleston, E. G. & Peet, M. (1973) Tryptophan in depression. Lancet, ii, 60–3.Google Scholar
Curzon, G. (1969) Tryptophan pyrrolase—a biochemical factor in depressive illness? Brit. J. Psychiat., 115, 1367–74.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Curzon, G. & Green, A. R. (1969) Liver tryptophan pyrrolase activity and brain 5-hydroxytryptamine. Biochem. J. 111, 15.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Denckla, W. D. & Dewey, H. R. (1967) Determination of tryptophan in plasma, liver and urine. J. Lab. & clin. Med., 69, 160–9.Google Scholar
Fernstrom, J. D. & Wurtman, R. J. (1971) Brain serotonin content: physiological regulation by plasma tryptophan levels. Science, 173, 149–54.Google Scholar
Gessa, G. L., Biggio, G. & Tagliamonte, A. (1972) Brain serotonin turnover; dependence on free tryptophan concentration in plasma. Fedn. Proc., 31, 2168–72.Google Scholar
Glassman, A. H. & Platman, S. R. J. (1969) Potentiation of a monoamine oxidase inhibitor by tryptophan. J. psychiat. Res., 7, 83–8.Google Scholar
Hartmann, E., Cravens, J. & List, S. (1974) Hypnotic effects of L-tryptophan. Arch. gen. Psychiat., 31, 394–7.Google Scholar
Klempel, K. (1972) Orientierende Untersuchung des zirkadianen Plasma-Rhytmus depressiver Syndrome unterschiedlicher Ätiologie. Arch. Psychiat. Nervenkr., 216, 131–52.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Knott, P. J. & Curzon, G. (1972) Free tryptophan in plasma and brain tryptophan metabolism. Nature, 239, 452–3.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mendels, J. & Frazer, A. (1974) Brain biogenic amine depletion and mood. Arch. gen. Psychiat., 30, 447–51.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Riederer, P., Birkmayer, W. & Neumayer, E. (1973) The tyrosine-tryptophan diagram in a longtime study with depressed patients. J. neur. Transmiss., 34, 31–48.Google Scholar
Shopsin, B., Wilk, S., Sathananthan, G., Gershon, S. & Davis, K. (1974) Catecholamines and affective disorders revised: a critical assessment. J. nerv. ment. Dis., 158, 369–83.Google Scholar
Waalkes, T. P. & Udenfriend, S. (1957) Fluorometric method for estimation of tyrosine in plasma and tissues. J. Lab. & clin. Med., 50, 733–6.Google ScholarPubMed
Wyatt, R. J., Engelman, K., Kupfer, D. J., Fram, D. H., Sjoerdsma, A. & Snyder, F. (1970) Effects of L-tryptophan (a natural sedative) on human sleep. Lancet, ii, 842–5.Google Scholar
Yong, V. R., Hussein, M. A., Murray, E. & Scrimshaw, N. S. (1971) Plasma tryptophan response curve and its relation to tryptophan requirements in young adult men. J. Nutrition, 101, 45–60.Google Scholar
Submit a response

eLetters

No eLetters have been published for this article.