Evidence of Reduced Agmatine Concentrations in the Cerebral Cortex of Suicides.

ABSTRACT:

Background

The polyamines are a group of ubiquitous low-molecular-weight aliphatic molecules that play an essential role in various physiological functions of the mammalian CNS. Previous literature has indicated alterations in the expression of polyamine-related genes in the brains of individuals who died by suicide, including downregulation of spermidine/spermine N1-acetyltransferase, a key enzyme involved in polyamine catabolism. One such polyamine, agmatine, has been shown to act as an antidepressant in animal models of depressive-like behavior. However, agmatine concentrations have not been explored in postmortem human brain of individuals who died by suicide.

Methods

To measure agmatine in postmortem human brain tissue, we employed our previously published high-resoluti

SUBMITTER: Chen GG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6165952 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature