Li Xue, Liu Xinzi, Li Ziyan, Feng Sitong, Zheng Sisi, Jia Hongxiao, Yin Dongqing
Beijing Key Laboratory of Mental Disorders, National Clinical Research Center for Mental Disorders & National Center for Mental Disorders, Beijing Anding Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China.
BMC Psychiatry. 2025 Oct 7;25(1):941. doi: 10.1186/s12888-025-07418-7.
Bipolar disorder (BD) is a severe mental illness characterized by seasonal episodes, yet its metabolic basis remains unclear.
This study utilized targeted metabolomics to investigate seasonal metabolic changes. Serum samples were collected from 9 BD patients And 9 matched healthy controls (HCs) at six time points: 15 days before, on, And 15 days after both the spring and autumn equinoxes. All samples were analyzed using the same platform for consistency.
In the autumn phase, repeated-measures Analysis identified 15 metabolites in HCs And 38 in BD with time effects, And 111 showed group-by-time interactions; none remained significant after false discovery rate (FDR) correction. In contrast, Analysis across the spring And autumn revealed significant time effects in 277 metabolites in HCs And 263 in BD, with 16 triacylglycerols showing significant interactions (FDR-p < 0.05). Group differences peaked around the autumn equinox, with opposite trends observed. Amino acids such as glutamine, lysine, histidine, and asymmetric dimethylarginine continuously increased from spring to autumn in both groups. These seasonal variations in BD metabolites from spring to autumn were mainly linked to the biosynthetic pathways of phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan.
These findings indicate a seasonal modulation of serum metabolite profiles in individuals with BD, which may underlie or reflect mood-related changes. However, causal relationships and mechanistic pathways require further validation.
双相情感障碍（BD）是一种以季节性发作为特征的严重精神疾病，但其代谢基础仍不清楚。
本研究利用靶向代谢组学来研究季节性代谢变化。在六个时间点从9名双相情感障碍患者和9名匹配的健康对照（HC）中采集血清样本：春分和秋分前15天、当天以及后15天。为保持一致性，所有样本均使用同一平台进行分析。
在秋季阶段，重复测量分析在健康对照中鉴定出15种有时间效应的代谢物，在双相情感障碍患者中鉴定出38种，并且有111种显示出组间时间交互作用；在错误发现率（FDR）校正后均无显著意义。相比之下，对春季和秋季的分析显示，健康对照中有277种代谢物、双相情感障碍患者中有263种代谢物存在显著的时间效应，16种三酰甘油显示出显著的交互作用（FDR-p＜0.05）。组间差异在秋分前后达到峰值，呈现相反趋势。两组中谷氨酰胺、赖氨酸、组氨酸和不对称二甲基精氨酸等氨基酸从春季到秋季持续增加。双相情感障碍患者从春季到秋季的这些代谢物季节性变化主要与苯丙氨酸、酪氨酸和色氨酸的生物合成途径有关。
这些发现表明双相情感障碍患者血清代谢物谱存在季节性调节，这可能是情绪相关变化的基础或反映。然而，因果关系和作用机制途径需要进一步验证。
