title: Concentrations of glycine and serine in cerebrospinal fluid during disturbed consciousness; a study of the therapeutic effect of thyrotropin-releasing hormone on the consciousness level.
abstract: The concentrations of aliphatic amino acids (glycine, serine, valine, threonine, alanine, leucine, isoleucine) in lumbar cerebrospinal fluid from patients with consciousness disturbances and normal controls were measured. Thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) was administered to patients and the changes of levels of consciousness and amino acid concentrations were followed before and after TRH administration. The concentrations of glycine and serine from patients were significantly higher than those from controls; they returned to the control values with improvement of consciousness disturbances. The influence of TRH upon these amino acid concentrations was not observed. These results suggest that within the central nervous system, an alteration of the level of consciousness is associated with a distortion of glycine and serine metabolism and that TRH itself has no influence upon these amino acid concentrations.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yanai
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shibasaki
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kohno
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mitsui
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Nakajima
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000596:Amino Acids / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D003244:Consciousness Disorders / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid* / Q000188:drug therapy; D005260:Female; D005998:Glycine / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012694:Serine / Q000134:cerebrospinal fluid*; D013973:Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D012694:Serine; D013973:Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone; D005998:Glycine