Increase in Antioxidants Can Enhance Psychosis Recovery
Written By: Pimtawan Jatupornpakdee
July 1, 2020
In today’s world, not only is physical illness a threat to our lives, but mental illness can also be a silent danger that people tend to ignore. The term used to call a symptom of numerous psychiatric disorders is psychosis. It is a general term use for psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar, and major depressive disorders. The key to treating psychosis is the period of time it takes for the patients to respond to the treatment.
One-third of people diagnosed with schizophrenia resist the treatment. The longer the patients’ bodies resist, the more severe the sickness would be. The medical community did not understand why patients respond to the treatment in different periods of time. Some people respond within weeks, but some take months before the treatment is effective.
Finally, a new study in Molecular Psychiatry explains this inconsistency. Researchers focused on the levels of a protective antioxidant in the brain of people with the first episode of psychosis. They narrowed down and investigated an antioxidant called glutathione. Glutathione is the most prominent antioxidant in brain cells. Some studies have found that glutathione could be associated with the treatment, since some patients experiencing psychosis lack glutathione in their cingulate cortex, which is a part of the brain linked with emotion regulation. Glutathione is also linked to another chemical called glutamate. Excess glutamate can damage neurons and reduce the effectiveness of the treatment of psychosis. During the first episode of psychosis, there are high levels of glutamate, therefore glutathione works to protect the brain from the damage.
In the study, the researchers used a specific type of MRI called ultrahigh field magnetic resonance spectroscopy to specifically study the two chemicals in the cingulate cortex. The study involved 27 healthy individuals with no history of psychosis and 26 people diagnosed with schizophrenia disorder from the Prevention and Early Intervention Program for Psychoses at the London Health Sciences Centre in Ontario. All participants gave consent to receive antipsychotic treatment. The researchers measured their brain antioxidant levels before and after 6 months of the treatment.
The result from the study turned out to have no major difference in the levels of glutathione between the control group and the patients, but there was a significant difference between the patients with schizophrenia. Specifically, higher levels of glutathione were associated with quicker responses to antipsychotic treatment. Contrarily, higher levels of glutamate were associated with more social struggles. The researchers used the Social and Occupational Functioning Assessment Scale to measure this outcome.
“This study demonstrates that if we can find a way to boost the amount of antioxidants in the brain, we might be able to help patients transition out of hospital more quickly, reduce their suffering more quickly, and help them return earlier to their work and studies,” says Dr. Lena Palaniyappan, an associate professor at the University of Western Ontario and the senior author of the study.
Researchers made an estimation that a 10 percent increase in glutathione levels could reduce the time spent in the hospital by at least a week. This could be a possible plan in the future, since supplements called N-acetylcysteine are proven to boost antioxidant levels in the brain.
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