SynthesisJournal of psychiatry & neuroscience : JPN2018
Meta-analysis of central and peripheral γ-aminobutyric acid levels in patients with unipolar and bipolar depression.
Synthesis in Journal of psychiatry & neuroscience : JPN, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 35 papers, 4 of them syntheses 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
35 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 96 citations in OpenAlex.
- Brain-wide changes in excitation-inhibition balance of major depressive disorder: a systematic review of topographic patterns of GABA- and glutamatergic alterations.Molecular psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- Medial Frontal Cortex GABA Concentrations in Psychosis Spectrum and Mood Disorders: A Meta-analysis of Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Studies.Biological psychiatry · 2023Pooled it
- Cerebrospinal Fluid Biomarkers in Patients With Unipolar Depression Compared With Healthy Control Individuals: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.JAMA psychiatry · 2022Pooled it
- Evidence-based umbrella review of 162 peripheral biomarkers for major mental disorders.Translational psychiatry · 2020Pooled it
- Glutamate- and GABA-targeted drugs for Cc-occurring bipolar and alcohol use disorders: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study of N-acetylcysteine, gabapentin, and placebo.Translational psychiatry · 2026Trial
- Ultra-high field magnetic resonance spectroscopy study of transcranial magnetic stimulation treatment in adolescents with depression.BMC psychiatry · 2026Trial
- Alterations in gamma-aminobutyric acid and glutamate neurotransmission linked to intermittent theta-burst stimulation in depression: a sham-controlled study.Translational psychiatry · 2025Trial
- Trial
- Gamma and beta power and the 1/f slope vary across a spectrum of depression severity.Translational psychiatry · 2026Article
- A review of mechanisms and optimization strategies for clinical improvement after repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation in bipolar disorder.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2026Review
- Characterizing metabolomic and proteomic changes in depression: a systematic analysis.Molecular psychiatry · 2025Article
- Molecular Effects of Cornelian Cherry Fruit (Current issues in molecular biology · 2025Article
- Relationship Between Obesity and Depression Considering the Inflammatory Theory.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Risk of subsequent Parkinson's disease among patients with bipolar disorder or major depression: A nationwide longitudinal study in Taiwan.Psychiatry and clinical neurosciences · 2025Article
- F. prausnitzii potentially modulates the association between citrus intake and depression.Microbiome · 2024Article
- Are There Biological Correlates of Response to Yoga-Based Interventions in Depression? A Critical Scoping Review.Brain sciences · 2024Article
- B cells and the stressed brain: emerging evidence of neuroimmune interactions in the context of psychosocial stress and major depression.Frontiers in cellular neuroscience · 2024Review
- GABAA Receptor Availability in Relation to Cortical Excitability in Depressed and Healthy: A Positron Emission Tomography and Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation Study.Neuropsychobiology · 2024Article
- Pharmacotherapies Targeting GABA-Glutamate Neurotransmission for Treatment-Resistant Depression.Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Review
- The role of neurotransmitters in mediating the relationship between brain alterations and depressive symptoms in patients with inflammatory bowel disease.Human brain mapping · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMany studies have measured central and peripheral γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA) levels in patients with depression. We performed a meta-analysis to provide an objective overview of GABA changes in those with unipolar or bipolar depression.
methodsAfter a systematic database search, original data were extracted with the help of seminal authors to calculate standardized mean differences. We compared GABA levels between patients with current major depressive episodes and controls, between euthymic patients and controls, and in patients before and after treatment. We performed meta-regressions to explore the influence of demographic and clinical variables on GABA significant mean differences.
resultsFor unipolar depression, central and peripheral GABA levels were diminished in currently depressed patients, but normal in euthymic patients, compared with the healthy controls. For bipolar disorder, GABA levels were diminished in medication-free patients, but seemed to be normalized in medicated patients, compared with the healthy controls. We found no significant association with demographic or clinical variables. LIMITATIONS: There was a great heterogeneity across studies, probably because of the substantial variation of clinical characteristics in the included samples. Many subanalyses were performed to assess how the diagnosis, medications, or the type of measurements of peripheral or central GABA levels may affect the main results.
conclusionThe GABA levels evolved differentially in patients with unipolar and bipolar disorders. Our results suggest that GABA levels could represent a biomarker of symptomatic states in patients with unipolar disorder and would be normalized by mood stabilizers in those with bipolar disorder.
Indexed as
Identifiers
29252166PMC5747536W2781174833What 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.