It's been known that elevated homocysteine can increase the risk of heart disease, now there appears to be a connection to depression. For those who may be interested in supplementing, the full text of the article mentions a few things like B12, folate, B6 and TMG ..
People with depression have changes in the biochemistry of their brain. The most well-studied changes relate to neurotransmitters known as serotonin, dopamine and noradrenaline. These neurotransmitters influence mood, and they’re the targets of tricyclic antidepressants.Mood enhancers are created in the brain in a process that involves methylation. Since methylation is part of the cycle that creates homocysteine, researchers have reasoned that it’s likely these neurotransmitters are affected by homocysteine.
In the first of its kind, a new study shows that homocysteine, depression, neurotransmitters and folate are connected. A clear association exists between elevated homocysteine and major depression. It also shows that depressed people with the highest elevations in homocysteine (>12 micromoles/liter) have significantly less SAMe—which means they have less capacity to create mood-enhancing neurotransmitters. Low levels of neurotransmitters were, in fact, confirmed in the people with the highest homocysteine and lowest levels of SAMe. In the whole group, higher homocysteine equalled lower SAMe. A clear association exists between elevated homocysteine and major depression.
Since folate deficiency is one of the main reasons for elevated homocysteine, the researchers also looked at folate levels, both in the blood and in cerebral spinal fluid. They found that the group with the highest homocysteine levels (>12 µmol/l) had significantly lower folate in cerebral spinal fluid, red cells and serum. Folate was also lower in red blood cells of the depressed group as a whole. Nearly a third of the depressed inpatients in the study had red cell folate levels below normal (<150 µg/l). At the same time, half of them had homocysteine levels higher than the levels of two control groups.
Homocysteine, SAMe and folate all link up in the methylation cycle where methionine is converted to SAMe, used for methylation, leaving homocysteine which is then converted back to methionine with enzymes that use folate. One depends on the other. If folate is not available
to promote the conversion of homocysteine, it can build up and block methylation.Serotonin and other brain chemicals require methylation to be synthesized. When methylation factor, SAMe, is injected into rats, certain areas of the brain synthesize more serotonin. In turn, serotonin and SAMe both are necessary for the synthesis of melatonin, an important hormone for sleep. It’s easy to see how homocysteine (which blocks SAMe) can have far-reaching effects.
People with folate deficiency have decreased synthesis of serotonin and dopamine. It has been reported that people with folate deficiencies do not respond to Prozac as well as people who have sufficient folate. Folate deficiency alone can cause severe depression, as can vitamin B12 deficiency (note: the usual methods of measuring these two vitamins in people is not very accurate, plus because they work together, it’s sometimes hard to tell which vitamin is deficient).
(Life Extention, June 2001)
The full text of this article can be found online at: http://www.lef.org/magazine/mag2001/june2001_report_homocysteine.html
"It is not so much that you use your mind wrongly--you usually don't use it at all. It uses you. This is the disease." -Eckhart Tolle, The Power of Now