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Inositol is an abundant sugar responsible for important cellular transduction pathways involving hormones, neurotransmitters, and growth factors (Parthasarathy et al.). Among the nine inositol isomers, the myo-inositol has the greatest biological activity and serves to synthesize cell membrane inositol phospholipids (Parthasarathy et al.). In the brain, myo-inositol links several extracellular signaling pathways activating phospholipase C and increasing cytosolic calcium from the endoplasmic reticulum (Parthasarathy et al.). The resulting calcium surge activates many enzymes and receptors controlling essential physiological and neurological functions (Parthasarathy et al.).
As a result, the inositol pathway remains an attractive pharmacological target towards the treatment and management of many psychiatric disorders. Several clinical studies have demonstrated a correlation between decreased myo-inositol levels and the severity...
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References and Reading
Einat, H., & Belmaker, R. H. (2001). The effects of inositol treatment in animal models of psychiatric disorders. Journal of Affective Disorders, 62(1–2), 113–121. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0165-0327(00)00355-4.
Levine, J. (1997). Controlled trials of inositol in psychiatry. Biological Psychiatry, 42(1), 289S. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0006-3223(97)88102-4.
Levine, J., Aviram, A., Holan, A., Ring, A., Barak, Y., & Belmaker, R. H. (1997). Inositol treatment of autism. Journal of Neural Transmission, 104(2–3), 307–310. https://doi.org/10.1007/bf01273191.
Parthasarathy, L. K., Ratnam, L., Seelan, S., Tobias, C., Casanova, M. F., & Parthasarathy, R. N. Mammalian inositol 3-phosphate synthase: Its role in the biosynthesis of brain inositol and its clinical use as a psychoactive agent. In Subcellular biochemistry (pp. 293–314). Springer.
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Kopel, J. (2019). Inositol: Definition. In: Volkmar, F. (eds) Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_102080-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6435-8_102080-1
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