Exploration for biomarkers of postpartum depression based on metabolomics: A systematic review

Postpartum depression (PPD) is the most frequent psychiatric complication during the postnatal period and its mechanisms are not fully understood. Metabolomics, can quantitatively measure metabolites in a high-throughput method, and thus uncover the underlying pathophysiology of disease.

In this study, we reviewed metabolomics studies conducted on PPD, aiming to understand the changes of metabolites in PPD patients and analyze the potential application of metabolomics in PPD prediction and diagnosis.

Relevant articles were searched in PubMed, Google scholar, and Web of Science databases from January 2011 to July 2022. The metabolites involved were systematically examined and compared. MetaboAnalyst online software was applied to analyze metabolic pathways.

A total of 14 papers were included in this study. There were several highly reported metabolites, such as kynurenine, kynurenic acid, and eicosapentaenoic acid. Dysregulation of metabolic pathways involved amino acids metabolism, fatty acids metabolism, and steroids metabolism.

The included studies are relatively inadequate, and further work is needed.

This study summarized significant metabolic alterations that provided clues for the prediction, diagnosis, and pathogenesis of PPD.