ArticleTranslational psychiatry2018
Diagnosis of major depressive disorder based on changes in multiple plasma neurotransmitters: a targeted metabolomics study.
Article in Translational psychiatry, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. It is linked to trial NCT05603819 (Clinical Validation Study for EDIT-B Test), which is not on this map. Cited by 132 papers, 15 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
Clinical Validation Study for EDIT-B Test: an Aid for Differential Diagnosis of Bipolar Disorder, Based on RNA Editing Blood Biomarkers
Who cites it
132 citing papers in PubMed, 15 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 222 citations in OpenAlex.
- A systematic review of global signal topography in aging, neuropsychiatric disorders, and cognitive task performance.Brain imaging and behavior · 2026Pooled it
- Systems-level transcriptomic analysis reveals synapse-related gene dysregulation in peripheral leukocytes of MDD patients.Scientific reports · 2026Pooled it
- Metabolomics in stress-related disorders: a systematic review and bioinformatics analysis.Naunyn-Schmiedeberg's archives of pharmacology · 2026Pooled it
- Aberrations in Peripheral Blood Neuron-Specific Enolase Levels in Depression: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.Depression and anxiety · 2026Pooled it
- Metabolomics in Depression: What We Learn from Preclinical and Clinical Evidences.Molecular neurobiology · 2025Pooled it
- Association between triglyceride and depression: A systematic review and meta-analysis.PloS one · 2024Pooled it
- Potential Inflammatory Biomarkers for Major Depressive Disorder Related to Suicidal Behaviors: A Systematic Review.International journal of molecular sciences · 2023Pooled it
- Efficacy and safety of zuranolone in the treatment of major depressive disorder: a meta-analysis.Frontiers in neuroscience · 2023Pooled it
- A Systematic Review of Circulatory microRNAs in Major Depressive Disorder: Potential Biomarkers for Disease Prognosis.International journal of molecular sciences · 2022Pooled it
- The kynurenine pathway in major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia: a meta-analysis of 101 studies.Molecular psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- An integrated meta-analysis of peripheral blood metabolites and biological functions in major depressive disorder.Molecular psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- The kynurenine pathway in bipolar disorder: a meta-analysis on the peripheral blood levels of tryptophan and related metabolites.Molecular psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- Associations of depression status with plasma levels of candidate lipid and amino acid metabolites: a meta-analysis of individual data from three independent samples of US postmenopausal women.Molecular psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- Augmenting Clinical Interventions in Psychiatric Disorders: Systematic Review and Update on Nutrition.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2021Pooled it
- Tryptophan Catabolites in Bipolar Disorder: A Meta-Analysis.Frontiers in immunology · 2021Pooled it
- Efficacy and safety of venlafaxine hydrochloride combined with tandospirone citrate for patients with vascular depression accompanied by somatic symptoms: An open-labeled randomized control trial.CNS neuroscience & therapeutics · 2024Trial
- Thiol-Ene Click-Derived Porous-Layer Open-Tubular Column for Online Purification and Multiplex LC-MS/MS Analysis of Neurotransmitters.Analytical chemistry · 2026Article
- Development and validation of dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction coupled with LC-MS/MS for plasma 5-hydroxyindoleacetic acid quantification with application as a biomarker in major depressive disorder.Scientific reports · 2026Article
- Targeting MAO-A With Ultrafast Kinetics: Affinity Probes for Precision Imaging of Brain Pathologies and Depression Biomarker Validation.Advanced healthcare materials · 2026Article
- Treatment effects on sphingosine-1-phosphate and its receptors in major depressive disorder: implications for biomarkers.BMC psychiatry · 2026Article
72 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
12 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Major depressive disorder (MDD) is a debilitating psychiatric illness. However, there is currently no objective laboratory-based diagnostic tests for this disorder. Although, perturbations in multiple neurotransmitter systems have been implicated in MDD, the biochemical changes underlying the disorder remain unclear, and a comprehensive global evaluation of neurotransmitters in MDD has not yet been performed. Here, using a GC-MS coupled with LC-MS/MS-based targeted metabolomics approach, we simultaneously quantified the levels of 19 plasma metabolites involved in GABAergic, catecholaminergic, and serotonergic neurotransmitter systems in 50 first-episode, antidepressant drug-naïve MDD subjects and 50 healthy controls to identify potential metabolite biomarkers for MDD (training set). Moreover, an independent sample cohort comprising 49 MDD patients, 30 bipolar disorder (BD) patients and 40 healthy controls (testing set) was further used to validate diagnostic generalizability and specificity of these candidate biomarkers. Among the 19 plasma neurotransmitter metabolites examined, nine were significantly changed in MDD subjects. These metabolites were mainly involved in GABAergic, catecholaminergic and serotonergic systems. The GABAergic and catecholaminergic had better diagnostic value than serotonergic pathway. A panel of four candidate plasma metabolite biomarkers (GABA, dopamine, tyramine, kynurenine) could distinguish MDD subjects from health controls with an AUC of 0.968 and 0.953 in the training and testing set, respectively. Furthermore, this panel distinguished MDD subjects from BD subjects with high accuracy. This study is the first to globally evaluate multiple neurotransmitters in MDD plasma. The altered plasma neurotransmitter metabolite profile has potential differential diagnostic value for MDD.
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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.