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Homocysteine during the menstrual cycle in depressive women
J Tallova1, M Bicikova, M Hill
1Department of Biochenmistry, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University Brno, Czech Republic. tallaj@med.muni.cz
Insights
Premenopausal women with anxiety-depressive disorder exhibit higher plasma homocysteine levels throughout the menstrual cycle compared to healthy controls. These findings suggest psychological factors influence homocysteine concentration.
Area of Science:
- Neuroscience
- Endocrinology
- Biochemistry
Background:
- Elevated homocysteine and steroid hormones are potential causal factors for both depressive disorder and cardiovascular disease.
- Previous research indicated significant plasma homocysteine concentration changes during the menstrual cycle in healthy women.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate homocysteine levels in premenopausal women with mixed anxiety-depressive disorder during the menstrual cycle.
- To compare homocysteine concentrations between depressed women and healthy controls.
Main Methods:
- Enrolled 13 premenopausal women with mixed anxiety-depressive disorder and 15 healthy controls.
- Measured homocysteine concentration using high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection.
- Assessed estradiol, progesterone, and cortisol levels via radioimmunoassay (RIA) methods.
Main Results:
- Significantly higher plasma homocysteine concentrations were observed in the follicular phase compared to the luteal phase in both depressive and control groups.
- Depressive patients showed significantly higher total homocysteine levels in both follicular and luteal phases than controls.
- Estradiol and cortisol levels were significantly elevated in the follicular phase of patients compared to controls.
Conclusions:
- Women with mixed anxiety-depressive disorder display distinct homocysteine concentrations across the menstrual cycle and higher overall plasma homocysteine than healthy women.
- Elevated homocysteine in depressed premenopausal women suggests a potential link between psychological factors and homocysteine levels.
Background:
Two possible factors that may have a causal relation with both depressive disorder and cardiovascular disease are elevated homocysteine and steroid hormones. Our previous study found significant changes in the plasma homocysteine concentration during the menstrual cycle in healthy women. The purpose of this study therefore was to test homocysteine in depressive women treated with fluoxetine during the menstrual cycle.
Materials And Methods:
Thirteen premenopausal women suffering from mixed anxiety-depressive disorder and a control group of 15 healthy women were enrolled in this study. The homocysteine concentration was determined by high-performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection, and estradiol, progesterone and cortisol by RIA methods.
Results:
We found significantly higher plasma homocysteine concentrations in the follicular phase than in the luteal phase of the menstrual cycle in both the depressive group (P < 0.003) and the controls (P < 0.0009). Moreover, the patient values of total homocysteine were significantly higher in the follicular phase (P < 0.03) and also in the luteal phase (P < 0.007) than the values of the controls. Estradiol and cortisol were significantly higher in the follicular phase of the patients compared with the control group.
Conclusion:
According to our results, women suffering from mixed anxiety-depressive disorder have not only significantly different concentrations of homocysteine in the follicular and luteal phase of the menstrual cycle but also higher plasma homocysteine compared with healthy women. More elevated homocysteine in the depressive than in the healthy premenopausal women points to the notion that psychological factors might be important when considering the homocysteine concentration.
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