Metabolomic Changes in Major Depressive Disorder Adolescent Females with or without Suicide Attempts

Wei-Xi Deng; Xiao-Bo Liu; Tian Guo; Li-Fei Shang; Yi Li; Kuan Zeng; Jing-Yi Long

doi:10.2174/1570159X23666250122093451

Metabolomic Changes in Major Depressive Disorder Adolescent Females with or without Suicide Attempts

Curr Neuropharmacol. 2025 Jan 22. doi: 10.2174/1570159X23666250122093451. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Wei-Xi Deng^{1

2

3}, Xiao-Bo Liu^{1

2}, Tian Guo^{1

2}, Li-Fei Shang^{1

2}, Yi Li^{1

2}, Kuan Zeng^{1

2}, Jing-Yi Long^{1

2}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Radiology, Wuhan Mental Health Center, Wuhan, China.
² Affiliated Wuhan Mental Health Center, Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, China.
³ Department of Psychiatry, The Second Affiliated Hospital and Yuying Children's Hospital of Wenzhou Medical University, Wenzhou, China.

PMID: 39844402
DOI: 10.2174/1570159X23666250122093451

Abstract

Background: The incidence of Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is high among adolescent females, and MDD is often accompanied by suicide attempts (SAs), which have a serious negative impact on health. However, changes in lipids, thyroid hormone, and brain metabolism among female adolescents with MDD and the relationships between these three markers and MDD with SA have yet to be elucidated.

Methods: This study enrolled 71 MDD patients with SA (MDD+SA), 66 MDD patients without SA (MDD-SA), and 47 healthy controls (HCs). We analysed the lipid and thyroid hormone levels and magnetic resonance spectroscopy results of the subjects.

Results: Low levels of social support, high levels of life stress, and high levels of suicidal ideation (SI) were risk factors for SA. In MDD patients, 1) thyroid stimulating hormone was positively correlated with triglyceride (TG) and N-acetyl aspartic acid (NAA)/creatinine in the prefrontal cortex (PFC) and negatively correlated with high-density lipoprotein and the choline/creatinine in the thalamus; 2) free thyroxine was negatively correlated with the choline/creatinine in the thalamus; 3) total cholesterol, TG, low-density lipoprotein, and choline/NAA in the PFC were positively correlated with the severity of SI and suicide risk; and 4) NAA/creatinine in the thalamus was negatively correlated with the severity of SI and suicide risk.

Conclusion: In female adolescents with MDD, there are significant synergistic changes in lipids, thyroid hormones, and brain metabolism-related factors, and the changes in these indicators may be related to the pathological mechanism of SA.

Keywords: Major depressive disorder; brain metabolism-related factors.; lipid metabolism; magnetic resonance spectroscopy; suicidal ideation; thyroid hormones.