Measurement of tryptophan, kynurenine and neopterin in women with and without postpartum blues

Background tion of the tryptophan-degrading enzyme indoleamine (2,3)-dioxygenase was demonstrated to be critically involved in tolerance induction to prevent fetal rejection. udy was designed to examine alterations of tryptophan and its catabolic product kynurenine in the postpartum period and to compare them to neopterin as an immunological marker. s lthy women delivering without complications provided blood during labour, and 2 and 4 days after birth. The blood samples were analysed for concentrations of tryptophan, kynurenine and neopterin. Women were asked to perform the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale (EPDS) on days 2 and 4. s en without blues symptoms (n=86) tryptophan concentrations increased within 2 days after birth, whereas they did not change in women with postpartum blues (n=9; 9.5%). The group difference reached statistical significance (p<0.05). The change of the kynurenine to tryptophan ratio (kyn/trp), which estimates the degree of tryptophan degradation, was also different between the two groups at days 0 and 2 (p<0.05). Neopterin concentrations decreased between days 2 and 4 (p<0.05), but there were no differences between the two groups. tions udy population had a low prevalence of postpartum blues symptoms. sion stpartal mood is associated with continuously low serum tryptophan after delivery due to an increased degradation to kynurenine, but is independent of the postpartal course of neopterin.