A High-performance Liquid Chromatography Measurement of Kynurenine and Kynurenic Acid: Relating Biochemistry to Cognition and Sleep in Rats.

ABSTRACT: The kynurenine pathway (KP) of tryptophan degradation has been implicated in psychiatric disorders. Specifically, the astrocyte-derived metabolite kynurenic acid (KYNA), an antagonist at both N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) and α7 nicotinic acetylcholine (α7nACh) receptors, has been implicated in cognitive processes in health and disease. As KYNA levels are elevated in the brains of patients with schizophrenia, a malfunction at the glutamatergic and cholinergic receptors is believed to be causally related to cognitive dysfunction, a core domain of the psychopathology of the illness. KYNA may play a pathophysiologically significant role in individuals with schizophrenia. It is possible to elevate endogenous KYNA in the rodent brain by treating animals with the direct bioprecursor kynurenine, an

SUBMITTER: Baratta AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6128208 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature