Glutamatergic Dysfunction and Glutamatergic Compounds for Major Psychiatric Disorders: Evidence From Clinical Neuroimaging Studies.
Level 5 - mechanism / opinion, no new human data
Narrative review of neuroimaging and clinical studies without systematic review methodology
PubMed 30733690 · doi:10.3389/fpsyt.2018.00767
What was done
The authors conducted a narrative review of recent human studies evaluating glutamatergic neurotransmission in major psychiatric disorders, including schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, and major depressive disorder. Evaluated modalities included magnetic resonance spectroscopy, positron emission tomography/single-photon emission computed tomography, and paired-pulse transcranial magnetic stimulation, alongside clinical evidence for glutamatergic compounds such as ketamine.
What was found
The abstract reports no numerical values, effect sizes, or study counts. It qualitatively reports that human neuroimaging and neurophysiological studies show glutamatergic abnormalities in major psychiatric disorders and notes that ketamine demonstrates rapid antidepressant efficacy in treatment-resistant depression.
Why it matters
This review integrates neuroimaging findings of glutamatergic dysfunction across psychiatric illnesses to contextualize the therapeutic rationale for newer glutamatergic drugs.
Limits
The abstract contains no quantitative metrics, specific search methodology, or sample sizes. As a narrative review, it is vulnerable to selection bias and reflects the indirect measurement limits of non-invasive imaging modalities.
Cited by
- supports Elevated brain glutamate is observed on brain imaging in epilepsy, bipolar disorder, and schizophrenia.