CSF prostaglandin-E in agoraphobia with panic attacks

Cytosolic prostaglandin E2 synthase (cPGES) expression is decreased in discrete cortical regions in psychiatric disease

The number of adults in the US affected by bipolar disorder, depression, or schizophrenia is approaching 15 million. Despite decades of research, etiologies of these illnesses remain elusive. Theories of aberrant brain morphology, neurotransmission, and signal conduction have provided the heuristic framework for a large body of literature, with attention focused upon hypotheses of monoamine signaling underlying psychiatric disease. More recently, attention has turned to potential contributions of other signaling pathways, including the arachidonic acid cascade and generation of prostaglandins (PG). To determine the potential involvement of the pathways leading to PGE2 synthesis in psychiatric disease, immunohistochemistry and immunoblotting were performed to measure regional expression of the cyclooxygenases (COX) and one of the terminal PGE2 synthases (PGES) in postmortem tissue provided by The Stanley Medical Research Institute. For normal, bipolar, depressed, and schizophrenic subjects, COX-1 and COX-2 protein levels did not differ across region and patient populations. In contrast, there was a significant effect of diagnosis on cytosolic PGES (cPGES) protein levels in the frontal cortex, with remarkable decreases observed in all psychiatric groups relative to normal tissue (P < 0.05). Significant reduction of cPGES expression was also found in the temporal cortex of bipolar subjects. Evaluation of medicated vs. non-medicated subjects revealed a significant effect of medication on cPGES expression in the frontal cortex of bipolar, but not depressed or schizophrenic subjects. These novel findings further support hypotheses of abnormalities in fatty acid and phospholipid metabolism in regions associated with psychiatric disease.

Depression and bipolar disorder: relationships to impaired fatty acid and phospholipid metabolism and to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, immunological abnormalities, cancer, ageing and osteoporosis. Possible candidate genes

Depression and bipolar disorder are two of the commonest illnesses in the developed world. While some patients can be treated effectively with available drugs, many do not respond, especially in the depression related to bipolar disorder. Depression is associated with diabetes, cardiovascular disease, immunological abnormalities, multiple sclerosis, cancer, osteoporosis and ageing: in each case depressed individuals have a worse outcome than non-depressed individuals. In all of these conditions there is now evidence of impaired phospholipid metabolism and impaired fatty acid-related signal transduction processes. Impaired fatty acid and phospholipid metabolism may be a primary cause of depression in many patients and may explain the interactions with other diseases. Several novel gene candidates for involvement in depression and bipolar disorder are proposed.

Prostaglandin E2 levels in cerebrospinal fluid of normal and narcoleptic dogs

It has been shown that endogenous prostaglandin D2 and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) are involved in sleep-wake regulation. Our recent experimental result that exogenously administered PGE2 significantly reduces canine cataplexy (a pathological equivalent of rapid-eye-movement sleep atonia and a symptom of narcolepsy) suggests that PGE2 is involved in the pathophysiology of canine narcolepsy. In order to further investigate the role of prostaglandins (PGs) in this disorder, PG levels in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) of genetically homozygous narcoleptic, heterozygous (unaffected), and control Doberman pinschers were studied. PGE2 levels were measured by direct radioimmunoassay (RIA) and after high-grade purification using PG affinity columns and high-performance liquid chromatography. PGD2 and PGF2 alpha levels were measured by RIA after high-grade purification. There was no significant difference in PGE2 levels between homozygous narcoleptic and heterozygous or controls dogs, and PGD2 and PGF2 alpha levels were undetectable in most cases. Our results do not favor the hypothesis that central PGE2 levels are modified in canine narcolepsy, assuming that PGE2 levels in cisternal CSF properly reflect PGE2 production in the brain.