Glutamate Levels in Post Stroke Depression

Lea B. Colantonio* and Jessica Frey, Ruby Memorial Hospital, West Virginia University, Morgantown, WV 26505

Field (Broad Category): Medical Sciences (Health Sciences) 

Student’s Major: Biochemistry 

Post-stroke depression (PSD) is a frequent psychiatric disorder that frequently causes a delay to patient recovery following ischemic stroke. The causes of post-stroke depression and the pathogenesis of poststroke depression is complicated and is still relatively unknown. Many researchers and scientists have recently focused on the important amino acid glutamate as a key factor in moderate depression disorder and post stroke depression. The purpose of this research experiment is to determine if there is a relation between levels of a marker in the blood, glutamate, and depressive symptoms following a stroke. Two patient group types, depressed and non-depressed, will have their blood drawn upon consent following an ischemic stroke. The depression criteria of each patient will be assessed via the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale. Peripheral blood will be drawn from the patients as part of the Amino Acid Quantitative Plasma set, which includes glutamate and a series of other markers. The levels of glutamate and other biomarkers will be analyzed and recorded in order to conclude if there is a significant difference between post stroke depression patients and patients without post stroke depression. We hypothesize that higher levels of plasma glutamate will correlate with the existence of post stroke depression, based on the information surrounding studies that have been completed. In addition to examining the protein glutamate, a level of knowledge and understanding will be gained on the principle of PSD in efforts to improve quality of life following the incident of a stroke. 

Funding: 

Program/mechanism supporting research/creative efforts: WVU 497-level course