title: Possible relationship between amino acids, aggression and psychopathy.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Aggressive behaviour is associated with reduced serotonin metabolism in the brain, but there is not enough knowledge on potential changes of the serotonin precursor levels among violent offenders. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the relationships among the tendency of psychopathy, anger and the basic amino acids.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifty-two young adult male patients with antisocial personality disorder (APD) and 30 healthy men included the study. Serum amino acid levels were measured by HPLC method. Aggression questionnaire and Hare Psychopathology Scale were used for all participants.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Blood levels of phosphoserine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, aminoadipic acid and 1-methylhistidine in group of patients with APD were significantly higher than the control group. Blood levels of TRP, asparagine, citrulline, cystine, isoleucine, tyrosine, histidine, hydroxylysine, lysine, ethanolamine and arginine in the group of patients were found lower than the control group. A significant positive correlation between anger scores and histidine, methionine and GABA was found. GABA and methionine showed a significant correlation with the indirect aggression score.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study showed a relationship between serum amino acid levels and the scores of aggression and psychopathy. We think that this is a productive research area for understanding the relationship among biochemical factors, aggression and psychopathy.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry , Gulhane Military Medical Academy , Ankara , Turkey ;
authors.forename: Murat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gulsun
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry , Gulhane Military Medical Academy , Ankara , Turkey ;
authors.forename: Taner
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Oznur
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry , Gulhane Military Medical Academy , Ankara , Turkey ;
authors.forename: Emre
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Aydemir
authors.affiliation: b Department of Medical Biochemistry , Erzincan Military Hospital , Erzincan , Turkey ;
authors.forename: Fatih
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Ozcelik
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry , Gulhane Military Medical Academy , Ankara , Turkey ;
authors.forename: Murat
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Erdem
authors.affiliation: c Department of Psychiatry , Golcuk Military Hospital , Kocaeli , Turkey ;
authors.forename: Serkan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zincir
authors.affiliation: d Department of Medical Biochemistry , Gulhane Military Medical Academy , Ankara , Turkey.
authors.forename: Ozgur
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Akgul
authors.affiliation: a Department of Psychiatry , Gulhane Military Medical Academy , Ankara , Turkey ;
authors.forename: Yasemin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Kurt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000374:Aggression; D000596:Amino Acids / Q000097:blood*; D000987:Antisocial Personality Disorder / Q000097:blood*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008762:Methylhistidines / Q000097:blood; D010768:Phosphoserine / Q000097:blood; D055815:Young Adult
chemical_list: D000596:Amino Acids; D008762:Methylhistidines; D010768:Phosphoserine; C028120:1-methylhistidine
keywords: Aggression; amino acid; psychopathy