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Spinal Fluid Chemical Levels Linked To Suicidal Behavior
An anonymous reader writes "For the first time, researchers have found that a chemical in the brain called glutamate is linked to suicidal behavior. While previous research and drugs have targeted serotonin to fight severe depression, this study shows that more attention should be paid to this chemical."
Medical Daily is not a reliable source, in my opinion. Is the publication paying for so many links to it? Does the owner of Slashdot, Dice Holdings, have a financial relationship with Medical Daily?
Special K.
"No, officer, I'm not abusing drugs, I'm suicidal"
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Glutamate is one of the major neurotransmitters, involved in almost everything the brain does. Reading this summary is kind of like reading "Scientists have discovered that a mysterious substance called 'blood' is involved in heart disease...."
Glutamate is a quite common flavour enhancer in processed food. Does that mean processed food can make you suicidal?
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
Glutamate has become very common in all sorts of pre-cooked prepared foods...everything from canned soup to rice-a-roni mixes. It's usually added as something called "MSG" or monosodium glutamate although it is also often added under names such as 'hydrolyzed protein,' 'autolyzed protein,' 'sodium caseinate,' 'autolyzed yeast,' or 'yeast extract.' Food manufacturers have found that adding MSG has a powerful on flavor and makes consumers more likely to 'like' the food and consume greater quantities. A more scientific name for 'glutamate' is 'glutamic acid' and it is a common amino acid found in protein. Food manufacturers have argued successfully for years that since it is an amino acid found in protein, there should be no restrictions on its use. However, as TFA discusses, the quantity of glutamic acid consumed DOES matter and artificially spiking a variety of food with it to make the food taste better may be causing a lot of suicides. Perhaps the school shooter in Connecticut was a heavy consumer of something spiked with MSG such as, for example, many (although not all) varieties of potato chips.
How does this account for all the people committing suicide in Finland? There aren't many cheap chinese food places there, but those people kill themselves all the time.
Monosodium? Whatever. Listen, I got an AGENDA to push, so don't get in the way with chemistry. The shit's like alchemy - bad for you.
We live in caves. We speak with our hands.
Shoes for Industry. Shoes for the Dead.
my father kept his rifle in his high school locker and went shooting after school, as an after school activity! Now a pocket knife invokes a zero-brain policy.
Toy guns and rubber knives apply to the zero-tolerance policies too. One kid got suspended for an Optimus Prime gun (the miniature size for the toy to hold).
It may all come down the the xCT cystein antiporter on glial cells. These cells mop up excess extracellular glutamic acid and turn it into inactive glutamine which can be safely returned to neurons as well as producing Glutathione together with cystein
as our bodies produce superoxide radical O2^- as a by product of respiration we've developed a defense mechanism the SuperOxideDismutase enzyme which turns it into the less harmful H2O2, consuming glutathione in the process. Glutathione is a tripeptide manifactured from Cystein Glutamic Acid and Glycine. Now while none of these are classed as essential amino acids, disruption of their metabolisms are being linked to disease states. Glutathione has recently become more famous due to experimental use in ameliorating parkinsons, and also due to its skin whitening effects.
Glutathione is also crucial for many detoxification systems in the body, recycling other antioxidants, and in defending the body and CNS from certain heavy metals, and other toxins.
The body makes around 45g/day of glycine, although other products such as serine and trimethylglycine depend on the levels of homocystine and if the person is suffering from a methylation block. Interestingly Glycine has shown therapeutic effects in schizophrenia, and for improving depth and quality of sleep. Cystine is a particularly important aminoacid, involved in the methylation cycle and a necessary component of many enzymes. It can become a limiting factor for synthesis of Glutathione.
When the ratio of cystein to glutamic acid swings too far the xCT cystine antiporters on Glial cells do not function correctly leading to excess extra-cellular glutamic acid and excitotoxicity. This is compounded by the decreased production of Glutathione which would alleviate this excitotoxicity.
The body recycles cysteine through a cycle involving the conversion into homocystine and back, utilising folic acid, B12 and B6. Homocystine is neurotoxic, a factor in cardiovascular disease, and typically accumulates with age.
the enzymes involved in the synthesis and recycling of of glutathione have been shown to be induced by melatonin, another very important antioxidant that concentrates in CSF, the nucleolus and mitochondria where is protects DNA. read Jennifer Anne Lukes thesis.
So part of the problem could be a deficiency of Glutathione, and or cystine, and or methylation block leading to to excess homocysteine, possibly exacerbated by reduced melatonin levels seen in the mentally ill.
The important part is that the suicidal people had dihydrogen monoxide in their cerebrospinal fluid.
Just let me summarize this whole discussion:
1. MSG is brain food.
2. If you eat lots of it you become really smart.
3a. That's why Chinese kids are good at math.
3b. American teens eat it and realize that they are losers, so they become suicidal.
(People in Finland just kill themselves because they are Finns.)