Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40169804›Full record

ArticleMolecular psychiatry2025

Bidirectional causal associations between plasma metabolites and bipolar disorder.

Qian Zhao, Ancha Baranova, Dongming Liu, Hongbao Cao, Fuquan Zhang

Abstract read
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In one paragraph

Article in Molecular psychiatry, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 3 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
3citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from 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.

2 · The registry

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Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

3 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors.

Qian ZhaoDepartment of Psychiatry, The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 210029, China.
Ancha BaranovaSchool of Systems Biology, George Mason University, Fairfax, 22030, USA.
Dongming LiuDepartment of Radiology, Affiliated Drum Tower Hospital, Medical School of Nanjing University, Nanjing, 210008, China.
Hongbao CaoSchool of Systems Biology, George Mason University, Fairfax, 22030, USA.
Fuquan ZhangDepartment of Psychiatry, The Affiliated Brain Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, 210029, China. zfqeee@126.com.ORCID http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3204-8191

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Altered levels of human plasma metabolites have been implicated in the etiology of bipolar disorder (BD). However, the causality between metabolites and the disease was not well described. We performed a bidirectional metabolome-wide Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis to evaluate the potential causal relationships between 871 plasma metabolites and BD. We used DrugBank and ChEMBL to evaluate whether related metabolites are potential therapeutic targets. Finally, Bayesian colocalization analysis was performed to identify shared genomic loci BD and identified metabolites. Our MR results showed that six metabolites were significantly associated with a reduced risk of BD, including arachidonate (20:4n6) (OR: 0.90, 95% CI: 0.84-0.95) and sphingomyelin (d18:2/24:1, d18:1/24:2) (OR: 0.92, 95% CI: 0.87-0.96), while five metabolites were significantly associated with an increased risk of BD, including 1-palmitoyl-2-linoleoyl-GPE (16:0/18:2) (OR: 1.09, 95% CI: 1.05-1.13). However, our reverse MR analysis showed that BD was not associated with the levels of any metabolite. Additionally, the leave-one-out analysis revealed SNPs within chromosome 11 loci harboring MYRF, FADS1, and FADS2 as ones with the potential to influence partial causal effects. Druggability evaluation showed that 10 of the BD-related metabolites, such as sphingomyelin and cytidine, have been targeted by pharmacologic intervention. Colocalization analysis highlighted one colocalized region (chromosome 11q12) shared by 11 metabolites and BD and pointed to some genes as possible players, including FADS1, FADS2, FADS3, and SYT7. Our study supported a causal role of plasma metabolites in the susceptibility to BD, and the identified metabolites may provide a new avenue for the prevention and treatment of BD.

Indexed as

Bipolar DisorderArachidonic AcidBayes TheoremDelta-5 Fatty Acid DesaturaseFatty Acid DesaturasesFemaleGenetic Predisposition to DiseaseGenome-Wide Association StudyHumansMaleMendelian Randomization AnalysisMetabolomePolymorphism, Single NucleotideSphingomyelinsArachidonic AcidDelta-5 Fatty Acid DesaturaseFADS1 protein, humanFatty Acid DesaturasesSphingomyelins

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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.