Introduction

Much of the brain and much of the body are made up of amino acids. Therefore it is mot at all surprising that amino acids play important roles in various diseases. A report of excessive tryptophan metabolism in neuropsychiatric disorders was published by Neurology India. This journal allows free full text articles at its website.

Ravikumar A, Deepadevi KV, Arun P, Manojkumar V, Kurup PA

These scientists from India reported abnormal metabolism of both tryptophan and tyrosine in neuropsychiatric disorders. Fortunately this article can be viewed free full text at the Neurology India website. The citation is as follows:

Ravikumar A, Deepadevi KV, Arun P, Manojkumar V, Kurup PA. Tryptophan and tyrosine catabolic pattern in neuropsychiatric disorders. Neurol India 2000;48:231.

They reported hypercatabolism of tryptophan in "neuropsychiatric" diseases. I think that it is good that neurologists are finally taking an interest in schizophrenia. They should have done this a long time ago. Schizophrenia is a disease of the brain. Many known neurological diseases have psychiatric symptoms. One example of this is multiple sclerosis.

Another interesting tidbit is that the Indian neurologists found serotonin to be high. This contradicts the main serotonin theory, which is that serotonin is supposed to be low in psychiaric diseases. This theory came about because the chemical structure of LSD bears some resemblance to the chemical structure of serotonin. Supposedly serotonin was considered to protect against LSD. Both structures have indole rings. The theory did not come about from actual measurements of serotonin. Serotonin was thought to be a good substance.

Is It a Drug Artifact?

Ref. 21 appears to say, "No!" Rats were given chronic neuroleptic treatment, and the opposite result was found. There are very serious problems associated with psychiatric drugs. This is discussed in Ref. 24. There is no good treatment for tardive dyskinesia except for discontinuing the drug that caused it. Even that may not work if the drug has been taken for too long.

But What Is the Treatment?

Tryptophan depletion is one possibility. However, other amino acids may also be involved in psychiatric diseases. Dohan suspected glutamine. Dohan's food allergy theory is considered an orthomolecular treatment. My theory is that all amino acids should be considered suspect. It may be necessary to depelete all amino acids. There are theories involving methionine. Supposedly there is excessive methylation going on. This theory dgoes back to a brilliant 1952 report by Osmond & Smythies.

Conclusions

The finding of increased tryptophan metabolites in schizophrenia is a very robust finding. This has been repeatedly confirmed by scientists all over the world including the UK. One theory is that a toxin is being produced from tryptophan. Another theory is that a toxin is being produced from dopamine which causes tryptophan to flood the brain cells. I favor the latter theory.

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26. Ravikumar A, Deepadevi KV, Arun P, Manojkumar V, Kurup PA. Tryptophan and tyrosine catabolic pattern in neuropsychiatric disorders. Neurol India [serial online] 2000 [cited 2009 Mar 24];48:231. Available from: http://www.neurologyindia.com/text.asp?2000/48/3/231/1530

Source: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1593193/amino_acids_in_psychiat...