Valnoctamide, which reduces rat brain arachidonic acid turnover, is a potential non-teratogenic valproate substitute to treat bipolar disorder.

Psychiatry Res

Brain Physiology and Metabolism Section, National Institute on Aging, National Institutes of Health, 9000 Rockville Pike, Bldg. 9, 1S128, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA. Electronic address:

Published: August 2017

AI Article Synopsis

  • Valproic acid (VPA) is a common treatment for bipolar disorder but has harmful effects on fetal development due to its teratogenic properties.
  • Valnoctamide (VCD), a non-teratogenic alternative to VPA, shows promise in reducing brain turnover of arachidonic acid (AA) similar to VPA, as indicated by studies involving unanaesthetized rats.
  • The findings suggest that VCD may serve as a safer substitute for treating bipolar disorder, warranting further investigation into its potential benefits compared to VPA.

Article Abstract

Background: Valproic acid (VPA), used for treating bipolar disorder (BD), is teratogenic by inhibiting histone deacetylase. In unanaesthetized rats, chronic VPA, like other mood stabilizers, reduces arachidonic acid (AA) turnover in brain phospholipids, and inhibits AA activation to AA-CoA by recombinant acyl-CoA synthetase-4 (Acsl-4) in vitro. Valnoctamide (VCD), a non-teratogenic constitutional isomer of VPA amide, reported effective in BD, also inhibits recombinant Acsl-4 in vitro.

Hypothesis: VCD like VPA will reduce brain AA turnover in unanaesthetized rats.

Methods: A therapeutically relevant (50mg/kg i.p.) dose of VCD or vehicle was administered daily for 30 days to male rats. AA turnover and related parameters were determined using our kinetic model, following intravenous [1-C]AA in unanaesthetized rats for 10min, and measuring labeled and unlabeled lipids in plasma and high-energy microwaved brain.

Results: VCD, compared with vehicle, increased λ, the ratio of brain AA-CoA to unesterified plasma AA specific activities; and decreased turnover of AA in individual and total brain phospholipids.

Conclusions: VCD's ability like VPA to reduce rat brain AA turnover and inhibit recombinant Acsl-4, and its efficacy in BD, suggest that VCD be further considered as a non-teratogenic VPA substitute for treating BD.

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Source
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5524208PMC
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2017.04.048DOI Listing

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