Probing the Association between Cognition, Suicidal Behavior and Tryptophan Metabolism in a Sample of Individuals Living with Bipolar Disorder: A Secondary Analysis

Paribello, Pasquale

First

Writing - Original Draft Preparation

;Squassina, Alessio

Second

Formal Analysis

;Pisanu, Claudia;Meloni, Anna;Dall'Acqua, Stefano;Sut, Stefania;Nasini, Sofia;Bertazzo, Antonella;Congiu, Donatella;Garzilli, Mario;Guiso, Beatrice;Suprani, Federico;Pulcinelli, Vittoria;Iaselli, Maria Novella;Pinna, Ilaria;Somaini, Giulia;Arru, Laura;Corrias, Carolina;Pinna, Federica;Carpiniello, Bernardo;Comai, Stefano;Manchia, Mirko

Last

Supervision

2023-01-01

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Abstract

Background and Objectives: Alterations in hot cognition and in the tryptophan metabolism through serotonin (5-HT) and kynurenine (KYN) pathways have been associated with an increased risk of suicidal behavior. Here, we aim at probing the association between Stroop test performances and tryptophan pathway components in a sample of individuals with bipolar disorder (BD). Materials and Methods: We explored the association between the Emotion Inhibition Subtask (EIS) performances of the Brief Assessment of Cognition for Affective Disorders (BAC-A) and plasmatic levels of 5-hydroxytriptophan (5-HTP), 5-HT, KYN, 3-hydroxykynurenine (3-HK), quinolinic acid (QA), and kynurenic acid (KYNA) among subjects reporting lifetime suicide ideation (LSI) vs. non-LSI and subjects reporting lifetime suicide attempts (LSA) vs. non-LSA. Results: In a sample of 45 subjects with BD, we found a statistically significant different performance for LSA vs. non-LSA in the color naming (CN) and neutral words (NW) EIS subtasks. There was a significant association between CN performances and plasma 5-HTP levels among LSI and LSA subjects but not among non-LSI or non-LSA. Conclusions: In our sample, patients with LSA and LSI presented lower performances on some EIS subtasks compared to non-LSA and non-LSI. Moreover, we found an inverse correlation between plasma 5-HTP concentration and some EIS performances in LSA and LSI but not among non-LSA or non-LSI. This may represent an interesting avenue for future studies probing this complex association.