Oxidative stress and brain glutamate-mediated excitability in depressed patients

Background l neuropsychiatric pathologies have been recently linked to oxidative stress. In this study, we investigated the relationship between depression, markers of oxidative stress and neurotransmission, as expressed by sensory cortex excitability. s levels of oxidative stress markers and somatosensory magnetic fields, evoked by external galvanic stimulation, were measured in 13 depressed patients and 13 controls. s sives had higher levels of total and free copper than controls and lower levels of transferrin. They also showed lower sensory cortex excitability, which correlated with copper levels in controls, but not in patients. Transferrin correlated with sensory cortex excitability in both patients and controls, although in opposite ways. Copper level results associated with the patientsʹ clinical status. tions sample size and possible sampling bias in patient selection. sions idant agents appear to affect neuronal excitability and clinical state of depressed patients, as free copper excess alters their cortical glutamatergic neurotransmission.