Linking major depressive disorder pathogenesis with kynurenine pathway - a literature review

SZAWICA, Dominik, KUŹNIAR, Aleksandra, FULARSKA, Kamila, OLESZKO, Michał & WĄSIEWICZ, Edward. Linking major depressive disorder pathogenesis with kynurenine pathway - a literature review. Journal of Education, Health and Sport. 2023;15(1):27-34. eISSN 2391-8306. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.12775/JEHS.2023.15.01.003 https://apcz.umk.pl/JEHS/article/view/4242852 https://zenodo.org/record/7743105 The journal has had 40 points in Ministry of Education and Science of Poland parametric evaluation. Annex to the announcement of the Minister of Education and Science of December 21, 2021. No. 32343. Has a Journal's Unique Identifier: 201159. Scientific disciplines assigned: Physical Culture Sciences (Field of Medical sciences and health sciences); Health Sciences (Field of Medical Sciences and Health Sciences). Punkty Ministerialne z 2019 - aktualny rok 40 punktów. Załącznik do komunikatu Ministra Edukacji i Nauki z dnia 21 grudnia 2021 r. Lp. 32343. Posiada Unikatowy Identyfikator Czasopisma: 201159. Przypisane dyscypliny naukowe: Nauki o kulturze fizycznej (Dziedzina nauk medycznych i nauk o zdrowiu); Nauki o zdrowiu (Dziedzina nauk medycznych i nauk o zdrowiu). © The Authors 2023; This article is published with open access at Licensee Open Journal Systems of Nicolaus Copernicus University in Torun, Poland Open Access. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author (s) and source are credited. This is an open access article licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non commercial license Share alike. (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) which permits unrestricted, non commercial use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the work is properly cited. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests regarding the publication of this paper. Received: 27.02.2023. Revised: 14.03.2023. Accepted: 15.03.2023. Published: 17.03.2023. Linking major depressive disorder pathogenesis with kynurenine pathway - a literature review Związek patogenezy zaburzeń depresyjnych ze szlakiem kinureninowym – przegląd literatury Dominik Szawica CENTRUM MEDYCZNE W ŁAŃCUCIE SP. Z O.O. ul. Paderewskiego 5, 37-100 Łańcut. https://orcid.org/0009-0004-7089-9266 dominik.szawica@gmail.com Aleksandra Kuźniar Kolegium Nauk Medycznych, Uniwersytet Rzeszowski, al. mjr. W. Kopisto 2a, 35-959 Rzeszów. https://orcid.org/0009-0007-8759-2633 kuzniar.aleksandra1@gmail.com Kamila Fularska CENTRUM MEDYCZNE W ŁAŃCUCIE SP. Z O.O. ul. Paderewskiego 5, 37-100 Łańcut. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1338-3982 ka.larska@wp.pl Michał Oleszko Kolegium Nauk Medycznych, Uniwersytet Rzeszowski, al. mjr. W. Kopisto 2a, 35-959 Rzeszów. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2635-0856 michaloleszkoole@gmail.com Edward Wąsiewicz CENTRUM MEDYCZNE W ŁAŃCUCIE SP. Z O.O. ul. Paderewskiego 5, 37-100 Łańcut. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0339-6202 edward.wasiewicz@op.pl Abstract Introduction: Depressive disorders are a significant problem. They lead to suffering, loss of interest and may contribute to suicide attempts. Despite the large number of available medications, 10-35% of patients fail to achieve remission. Therefore, for these ongoing researches are underway to thoroughly understand the pathophysiology of depression. Aim of study: The purpose of the study was to review the latest literature on the kynurenine pathway importance in depression, and to discover its links with theories relating to the pathogenesis of depression. Matherials and methods: A systemic review was conducted using PubMed, ScienceDirect, Google Scholar databases and it was limited to studies published between 2000 and 2023. The search strategy was based on following terms: kynurenine, depression, kynurenine pathway in depression, treatment resistant depression, tryptofan metabolites. Results: Animal studies confirm the importance of the kynurenine pathway in animal models of depression. Peripherally directed inflammatory stimuli in humans lead to peripheral activation of the kynurenine pathway. The regulation of the kynurenine pathway in the brain is specific to a particular region as well as to a given type of depression. Conclusions: Further studies of the kynurenine pathway targeting different regions of the brain are necessary. Conducting a simultaneous analysis of many central and peripheral tryptofan metabolites will be helpful to accurately determine their mutual impact in both compartments. Understanding changes in kynurenine pathway transmission in a particular type of depression may be helpful in developing new, more effective drugs. Keywords: depression, kynurenine, kynurenine pathway in depression, treatment resistant depression, tryptofan metabolite