title: Preliminary in vivo evidence of increased N-acetyl-aspartate following eicosapentanoic acid treatment in patients with bipolar disorder.
abstract: Ethyl-eicosapentanoic acid (ethyl-EPA) may be beneficial in the treatment of bipolar disorder (BD) and may have a neurotrophic/neuroprotective role in patients with neuropsychiatric disorders. To investigate this we examined whether ethyl-EPA treatment of BD patients is associated with increased brain levels of N-acetylaspartate (NAA), a putative marker of neuronal integrity. Fourteen female BD outpatients with moderate depressive symptoms were administered 2 g of ethyl-EPA per day or placebo for 12 weeks in a randomized, double-blind fashion. Quantitative, proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy imaging data were obtained prior to randomization and after 12 weeks of treatment from a single 12 ml volume of interest centred above the body of the corpus callosum. A significant rise in NAA levels was observed in the ethyl-EPA treatment group compared with the placebo group (p = 0.027). These results provide the first evidence for a probable neurotrophic role of ethyl-EPA treatment in BD underlining the need for more detailed investigation of its mechanism of action and therapeutic potential.
authors.affiliation: Section of Neurobiology of Psychosis, Institute of Psychiatry, Kings College London, London, UK. s.frangou@iop.kcL.ac.uk
authors.forename: Sophia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Frangou
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lewis
authors.forename: James
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wollard
authors.forename: Andrew
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Simmons
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001224:Aspartic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000378:metabolism; D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000188:drug therapy*; D001921:Brain / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D004311:Double-Blind Method; D015118:Eicosapentaenoic Acid / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D009682:Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy; D018696:Neuroprotective Agents / Q000494:pharmacology* / Q000627:therapeutic use; D009928:Organ Specificity
chemical_list: D018696:Neuroprotective Agents; D001224:Aspartic Acid; C035276:eicosapentaenoic acid ethyl ester; C000179:N-acetylaspartate; D015118:Eicosapentaenoic Acid