Title:The Impact of Malnutrition on the Peripheral Serotoninergic System in Anorexia Nervosa: A Systematic Review
VOLUME: 11 ISSUE: 1
Author(s):Claire Gauthier, Jean-Marie Launay, Marie-Raphaele Thiebaud and Nathalie Godart
Affiliation:Service de psychiatrie de l'adolescent du Pr Corcos, Institut Mutualiste Montsouris, 42, Boulevard Jourdan, 75014 Paris.
Keywords:Anorexia nervosa, eating disorder, malnutrition, serotonin, tryptophan.
Abstract:Objective: Anorexia nervosa is a severe pathology often associated with malnutrition. It is known
that starvation could result in various anxious and depressive symptoms, often mentioned in eating disorders.
Indeed, a lowering of plasma tryptophan through restrictive behaviours could cause a decrease in brain
serotonin synthesis and give rise to these symptoms. The aim of this article was to review studies assessing plasma
tryptophan and blood serotonin in anorexia nervosa, peripheral markers of the serotoninergic system.
Method: A systematic computerized search was performed in Medline for all studies published between 1980 and 2012. A
total of 9 studies for tryptophan and 5 studies for serotonin were reviewed for their methods, protocols and results.
Results: The characteristics of sample populations and studies protocols are very heterogeneous. Nonetheless, most
studies find that during the acute phase of anorexia nervosa plasma tryptophan is lowered but not blood serotonin.
Discussion: Further research with longitudinal design and larger samples is needed to confirm these data. Peripheral
serotoninergic markers could be a promising and non invasive way to explore how malnutrition really affects the
serotoninergic system.
