Trial reportPloS one2013
Pharmacometabolomics of response to sertraline and to placebo in major depressive disorder - possible role for methoxyindole pathway.
Trial report in PloS one, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 49 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
49 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 90 citations in OpenAlex.
- Metabolomics in Depression: What We Learn from Preclinical and Clinical Evidences.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Pooled it
- Metabolomic signature of exposure and response to citalopram/escitalopram in depressed outpatients.Translational psychiatry · 2019Trial
- Allopregnanolone Treatment Improves Plasma Metabolomic Profile Associated with GABA Metabolism in Fragile X-Associated Tremor/Ataxia Syndrome: a Pilot Study.Molecular neurobiology · 2019Trial
- Can targeted metabolomics predict depression recovery? Results from the CO-MED trial.Translational psychiatry · 2019Trial
- Pharmacometabolomics applied to zonisamide pharmacokinetic parameter prediction.Metabolomics : Official journal of the Metabolomic Society · 2018Trial
- Kynurenine pathway dysregulation in major depressive disorder: the convergence of excitotoxicity, neuroinflammation, and oxidative stress.Journal of neuroinflammation · 2026Review
- Applications of Metabolomics in the Development of Biomedicine and Biotechnology.Advances in experimental medicine and biology · 2026Review
- Application of Treatment Response Biomarkers from Major Depression to Perinatal Depression.Journal of personalized medicine · 2025Review
- Kynurenine Metabolism is Associated with Antidepressant Response to Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2025Article
- Pharmacokinetics in Pharmacometabolomics: Towards Personalized Medication.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- Effects of Electroacupuncture on Gut Microbiota and Fecal Metabolites in Rats with Poststroke Depression.Neuropsychiatric disease and treatment · 2023Article
- Changes in Tryptophan-Kynurenine Metabolism in Patients with Depression Undergoing ECT-A Systematic Review.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2022Review
- Left DLPFC activity is associated with plasma kynurenine levels and can predict treatment response to escitalopram in major depressive disorder.Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2022Article
- Association between cord blood metabolites in tryptophan pathway and childhood risk of autism spectrum disorder and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.Translational psychiatry · 2022Article
- Review
- Breathomics profiling of metabolic pathways affected by major depression: Possibilities and limitations.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Article
- Neurodegenerative Disorders of Alzheimer, Parkinsonism, Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Multiple Sclerosis: An Early Diagnostic Approach for Precision Treatment.Metabolic brain disease · 2022Review
- A Preliminary Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Metabolomics Study Identifies Metabolites that Could Serve as Diagnostic Markers of Major Depressive Disorder.Current neuropharmacology · 2022Article
- Does urinary metabolite signature act as a biomarker of post-stroke depression?Frontiers in psychiatry · 2022Review
- A metabolome-wide association study in the general population reveals decreased levels of serum laurylcarnitine in people with depression.Molecular psychiatry · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors at 7 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
Therapeutic response to selective serotonin (5-HT) reuptake inhibitors in Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) varies considerably among patients, and the onset of antidepressant therapeutic action is delayed until after 2 to 4 weeks of treatment. The objective of this study was to analyze changes within methoxyindole and kynurenine (KYN) branches of tryptophan pathway to determine whether differential regulation within these branches may contribute to mechanism of variation in response to treatment. Metabolomics approach was used to characterize early biochemical changes in tryptophan pathway and correlated biochemical changes with treatment outcome. Outpatients with MDD were randomly assigned to sertraline (n = 35) or placebo (n = 40) in a double-blind 4-week trial; response to treatment was measured using the 17-item Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HAMD17). Targeted electrochemistry based metabolomic platform (LCECA) was used to profile serum samples from MDD patients. The response rate was slightly higher for sertraline than for placebo (21/35 [60%] vs. 20/40 [50%], respectively, χ(2)(1) = 0.75, p = 0.39). Patients showing a good response to sertraline had higher pretreatment levels of 5-methoxytryptamine (5-MTPM), greater reduction in 5-MTPM levels after treatment, an increase in 5-Methoxytryptophol (5-MTPOL) and Melatonin (MEL) levels, and decreases in the (KYN)/MEL and 3-Hydroxykynurenine (3-OHKY)/MEL ratios post-treatment compared to pretreatment. These changes were not seen in the patients showing poor response to sertraline. In the placebo group, more favorable treatment outcome was associated with increases in 5-MTPOL and MEL levels and significant decreases in the KYN/MEL and 3-OHKY/MEL; changes in 5-MTPM levels were not associated with the 4-week response. These results suggest that recovery from a depressed state due to treatment with drug or with placebo could be associated with preferential utilization of serotonin for production of melatonin and 5-MTPOL.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.