Serum Metabolic Profiling of Late-Pregnant Women With Antenatal Depressive Symptoms

Abstract

Background: Antenatal depression (AD) is a major public health issue worldwide and lacks objective laboratory-based tests to support its diagnosis. Recently, small metabolic molecules have been found to play a vital role in interpreting the pathogenesis of AD. Thus, non-target metabolomics was conducted in serum.Methods: Liquid chromatography—tandem mass spectrometry—based metabolomics platforms were used to conduct serum metabolic profiling of AD and non-antenatal depression (NAD). Orthogonal partial least squares discriminant analysis, the non-parametric Mann–Whitney U test, and Benjamini–Hochberg correction were used to identify the differential metabolites between AD and NAD groups; Spearman's correlation between the key differential metabolites and Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) and the stepwise logistic regression analysis was used to identify potential biomarkers.Results: In total, 79 significant differential metabolites between AD and NAD were identified. These metabolites mainly influence amino acid metabolism and glycerophospholipid metabolism. Then, PC (16:0/16:0) and betaine were significantly positively correlated with EPDS. The simplified biomarker panel consisting of these three metabolites [betaine, PC (16:0/16:0) and succinic acid] has excellent diagnostic performance (95% confidence interval = 0.911–1.000, specificity = 95%, sensitivity = 85%) in discriminating AD and NAD.Conclusion: The results suggested that betaine, PC (16:0/16:0), and succinic acid were potential biomarker panels, which significantly correlated with depression; and it could make for developing an objective method in future to diagnose AD.

Metabonomic Study of the Effect of Dingkundan Intervention Comparing with Oral Contraceptives on Primary Dysmenorrhea Using the UPLC-MS Technique

“…It is widely accepted that oral contraceptives could manage menstrual pain by suppressing ovulation and endometrial ) is metabolized in PC synthesis and the glycerophospholipid metabolism pathway, and disturbance of the latter is associated with depression. Recent studies revealed that serum levels of PC (16:0/16) were elevated in antenatal depression and showed a positive trending correlation with depression scores [11][12][13]. Abundant evidence has uncovered psychological risk factors associated with PD, including depression and anxiety, and psychotherapy inter-ventions are considered effective in PD accordingly [14,15].…”

Supraphysiologic doses of 17β-Estradiol aggravate depression-like behaviors in ovariectomized mice possibly via regulating microglial responses and brain glycerophospholipid metabolism

“…Finally, the untargeted metabolomics results showed that the sE2 caused the imbalance of multiple metabolites involved in glycerophospholipid metabolism, retrograde endocannabinoid signaling, and so on, which are associated with depression. Previous studies have shown that gut microbes induce depression by regulating glycerophospholipid metabolism, people with sleep deprivation and depression have abnormal glycerophospholipid metabolism, while abnormal glycerophospholipid metabolism also occurs in the brain of the depression rat model [57][58][59][60]. However, the molecular mechanisms regulating the participation of these metabolites in the above metabolic pathways remain unclear.…”

Recent Progress in Mass Spectrometry-Based Metabolomics in Major Depressive Disorder Research

“…LC-MS lipid metabolite profiling in the hippocampus of PSD rats showed 50 key metabolites were reduced, and these were mainly involved in glycerophospholipid metabolism (particularly cardiolipin metabolism) [66]. Glycerophospholipid metabolism was also associated with the pathogenesis of PSD in humans [67,68]. Various lipidomics studies have confirmed that peripheral and central glycerophospholipid metabolism disorders are involved in the pathogenesis of depression via the microbiome-gut-brain axis [69][70][71][72].…”