Post-mortem evidence from human brain tissue of disturbed glucose metabolism in mood and psychotic disorders

Abstract

Reports of abnormal glucose metabolism in patients with mood and psychotic disorders predate modern psychopharmacology, suggesting a role in these disorders independent of medication effects. Using post-mortem brain tissue, the authors investigated the polyol (or 'sorbitol') pathway of glucose metabolism, because it is involved in nervous tissue disease in diabetes mellitus. They reported elevated sorbitol concentration in brains from nondiabetic individuals with schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and unipolar depression, compared to normal controls, suggesting a disturbance of brain glucose metabolism in these three disorders.