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. 2021 Jan;23(1):119-126.
doi: 10.1177/1099800420941109. Epub 2020 Jul 17.

Exploring Associations Between Metabolites and Symptoms of Fatigue, Depression and Pain in Women With Fibromyalgia

Victoria Menzies  1 , Angela Starkweather  2 , Yingwei Yao  1 , Debra Lynch Kelly  1 , Timothy J Garrett  3 , GeeSu Yang  1 , Staja Booker  1 , Theresa Swift-Scanlan  4 , Iqbal Mahmud  1 , Debra E Lyon  1
Affiliations

Exploring Associations Between Metabolites and Symptoms of Fatigue, Depression and Pain in Women With Fibromyalgia

Victoria Menzies et al. Biol Res Nurs. 2021 Jan.

Abstract

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic noncommunicable disorder characterized by a constellation of symptoms that include fatigue, depression and chronic pain. FM affects 2%-8% of the U.S. population, 2% of the global population, with 61%-90% of FM diagnoses attributed to women. Key causal factors leading to the development and severity of FM-related symptoms have not yet been identified. The purpose of this article is to report relationships among identified metabolites and levels of fatigue, depression, pain severity, and pain interference in a sample of 20 women with FM. In this secondary analysis, we conducted global metabolomic analysis and examined the data for relationships of metabolite levels with self-reported symptoms of fatigue, depression, pain severity, and pain interference. Results revealed six metabolites (6-deoxy-hexose; pantothenic acid; ergothioneine; l-carnitine; n-acetylserotonin; butyrobetaine) and their associated metabolic pathways such as carnitine synthesis, lipid oxidation, tryptophan metabolism, beta-alanine metabolism and pantothenic and Coenzyme-A biosynthesis that were either positively or inversely related to pain severity, pain interference, or both. The preliminary data presented suggest that metabolites representing energy, amino acid, or lipid classification may be associated with pain symptom severity and interference in women with FM. Future work will confirm these findings in a large, comparative cohort, targeting metabolites and metabolite pathways to better understand the relationships of metabolites and symptomology.

Keywords: depression; fatigue; fibromyalgia; metabolites; metabolomics; pain.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Metabolic Pathways of Differential Metabolites Association with Pain Severity, Pain Interference, or both in Women with FM (N = 20). KEGG compound ID for corresponding metabolite were used for MetaboNetwork analysis. Fold enrichment were automatically calculated based on the possible presence of each metabolite in metabolic networks. Negative fold enrichment indicates metabolites present as lower in respective pathways and positive fold enrichment indicates metabolites present as elevated in respective metabolic pathways.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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