{"doi":"10.1016/j.bbi.2011.05.005","title":"Reversal of imbalance between kynurenic acid and 3-hydroxykynurenine by antipsychotics in medication-naïve and medication-free schizophrenic patients","abstract":null,"journal":"Brain, Behavior, and Immunity","year":2011,"id":594006,"datarank":0.7077748306942643,"base_score":4.718498871295094,"endowment":4.718498871295094,"self_citation_contribution":0.7077748306942643,"citation_network_contribution":0.0,"self_endowment_contribution":0.7077748306942643,"citer_contribution":0.0,"corpus_percentile":null,"corpus_rank":null,"citation_count":111,"citer_count":0,"citers_with_citation_signal":0,"citers_with_endowment":0,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"is_dataset":false,"is_dataset_confidence":null,"is_data_producer":false,"deposit_databanks":null,"is_oa":false,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"has_version_chain":false,"published_date":null,"fair_score":null,"fair_percentile":null,"algorithm_id":"datarank_citation_only_1hop_v6","ranking_scope":"data_only","authors":[{"id":1520426,"name":"M.J. Schwarz","orcid":null,"position":1,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1520427,"name":"R. Verkerk","orcid":null,"position":2,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1520428,"name":"H.H. Mueller","orcid":null,"position":3,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":139410,"name":"J. Zach","orcid":null,"position":4,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1520429,"name":"S. Scharpé","orcid":null,"position":5,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1520430,"name":"H.W.M. Steinbusch","orcid":null,"position":6,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1520431,"name":"B.E. Leonard","orcid":null,"position":7,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1520432,"name":"Y.K. Kim","orcid":null,"position":8,"is_corresponding":false},{"id":1520425,"name":"A.M. Myint","orcid":null,"position":0,"is_corresponding":false}],"reference_count":0,"raw_metadata":{"has_enrichment":true,"resolved":true,"title":"Reversal of imbalance between kynurenic acid and 3-hydroxykynurenine by antipsychotics in medication-naïve and medication-free schizophrenic patients","abstract":"The association between the pro-inflammatory state of schizophrenia and increased tryptophan degradation into kynurenine has been reported. However, the relationship between metabolites from subdivisions of the kynurenine pathway, kynurenic acid and 3-hydroxykynurenine, remains unknown. The present study tested the relationship between these kynurenine metabolites in the plasma of medication-naïve (n=35) or medication-free (n=18) patients with schizophrenia at admission and following 6-week antipsychotic treatment compared to healthy controls (n=48). The plasma concentrations of kynurenic acid (nmol/l) were lower (difference=-8.44 (-13.22 to -3.65); p=0.001) and of 3-hydroxykynurenine (nmol/l) were higher (difference=11.24 (8.11-14.37); p<0.001) in the patients compared with the healthy controls. The kynurenic acid/kynurenine (difference=-2.75 (-5.115 to -0.336); p=0.026) and kynurenic acid/3-hydroxykynurenine (difference=-1.08 (-1.431 to -0.729); p<0.001) ratios were also lower in the patients. After the 6-week treatment, the patients' plasma kynurenic acid levels (difference=3.85 (-0.23 to 7.94); p=0.064) showed a trend towards an increase, whereas plasma 3-hydroxykynurenine levels (difference=22.41 (19.76-25.07); p<0.001) decreased. As a consequence, the kynurenic acid/3-hydroxykynurenine ratio (difference=-4.41 (-5.51 to -3.3); p<0.001) increased. Higher initial plasma kynurenic acid levels on admission or increased kynurenic acid/kynurenine ratio after treatment were associated with reduction of clinical symptoms scores upon discharge although higher kynurenic acid/kynurenine on admission may induce higher positive symptoms score. In contrast, higher 3-hydroxykynurenine is associated with lower positive symptoms score. These results indicate that there is an imbalance in the kynurenine pathway in schizophrenia. The 6-week antipsychotic treatment may partially reverse the imbalance in kynurenine metabolism and that in turn induces clinical response.","is_dataset_classified":null,"base_score":4.718498871295094,"endowment":4.718498871295094,"datacite_reuse_total":0,"file_count":0,"downloads":0,"views":0,"has_version_chain":false,"is_dataset":false,"is_oa":false,"pmid":"21620952","pmcid":null,"openalex_id":"https://openalex.org/W2039232652","authors":[],"funders":[],"total_grants":0,"fwci":3.1745,"citation_percentile":0.91862568,"influential_citations":0,"citation_trend":[{"year":2012,"count":9},{"year":2013,"count":9},{"year":2014,"count":12},{"year":2015,"count":13},{"year":2016,"count":7},{"year":2017,"count":4},{"year":2018,"count":7},{"year":2019,"count":8},{"year":2020,"count":7},{"year":2021,"count":11},{"year":2022,"count":4},{"year":2023,"count":6},{"year":2024,"count":2},{"year":2025,"count":5},{"year":2026,"count":4}],"oa_status":"closed","license":"https://www.elsevier.com/legal/tdmrep-license","oa_locations":[{"url":"https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0889159111001747?httpAccept=text/xml","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://api.elsevier.com/content/article/PII:S0889159111001747?httpAccept=text/plain","host_type":"publisher"},{"url":"https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbi.2011.05.005","host_type":"journal"},{"url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21620952","host_type":"repository"},{"url":"https://cris.maastrichtuniversity.nl/en/publications/d7cebbcc-fab2-4ed9-b4ef-e24e0c20a152","host_type":"repository"}],"fields_of_study":["Tryptophan and brain disorders","Schizophrenia research and treatment","Bipolar Disorder and Treatment"],"mesh_terms":["Adult","Algorithms","Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid","Female","Humans","Kynurenic Acid","Kynurenine","Male","Middle Aged","Patient Discharge","Schizophrenia","Schizophrenic Psychology","Spectrophotometry, Ultraviolet","Antipsychotic Agents","Tryptophan","Treatment Outcome","Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders"],"keywords":["Kynurenic acid","Kynurenine","Internal medicine","Kynurenine pathway","Schizophrenia (object-oriented programming)","Significant difference","Endocrinology","Medicine","Tryptophan","Biology","Biochemistry","Antagonist","Psychiatry","Amino acid"],"sdg_mappings":[{"sdg_number":0,"sdg_label":"Good health and well-being"}],"linked_datasets":[],"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"database_accessions":[],"source":"live","citation_network_status":"fetched"},"created_at":"2026-07-27T13:10:05.732850Z","pmid":null,"pmcid":null,"fwci":null,"citation_percentile":null,"influential_citations":0,"oa_status":null,"license":null,"views":0,"total_file_size_bytes":0,"version_count":0,"fair_f":null,"fair_a":null,"fair_i":null,"fair_r":null,"fair_zscore":null,"fair_rationale":null,"fair_model":null,"fair_agent_version":null,"fair_fulltext_source":null,"fair_has_llm":null,"fair_computed_at":null,"clinical_trials":[],"software_tools":[],"db_accessions":[],"linked_datasets":[],"topics":[]}