Review Article
Quinolinic Acid: An Endogenous Neurotoxin with Multiple Targets
Table 2
Alterations in QUIN levels presented in different neurodegenerative diseases and experimental models. Key references are shown in the quarter column.
| Disease/model | QUIN levels | Associated alterations | Reference |
| Alzheimer | ↑ in demented patient ↑ in senile plaques | (i) IDO overexpression (ii) ↓ KYNA (iii) QUIN colocalizes with tau in cortical sections (iv) ↑ QUIN/3-HK quotient in plasma | [25, 26, 91, 92] |
| A 1-42 | ↑ | (i) IDO over-expression in microglia and macrophages | [93] |
| Huntington | ↑ | (i) ↑ 3-HK | [94] |
| Huntingtin transgenic mice | ↑ in YAC128 mice, HdhQ92/HdhQ111 knock-in mice | (i) ↑ 3-HK | [95] |
| Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) | ↑ in CSF and serum of patients | (i) Cytokines release (ii) ↑ IDO (iii) QUIN levels enhanced independent blood brain barrier breakdown | [96–98] |
| Suicide attempters | ↑ in CSF of suicide attempters | (i) An increased QUIN/KYNA quotient | [99] |
| Depression | ↑ QUIN expression in human brain during acute depressive episodes | (i) Abnormal NMDA receptor function | [100] |
| Autism | ↑ in CFS of patients | (i) ↑ biopterin (ii) ↓ neopterin | [101] |
| Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis | ↑ in CSF and serum of patients | (i) ↑ TRP and L-KYN, human leukocyte antigen-DR (ii) IDO over-expression | [102] |
| Experimental allergic encephalomyelitis, a model of multiple sclerosis | ↑ in the spinal cords of rats | (i) ↑ in KMO activity and 3-HK levels | [103, 104] |
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IDO: indolamine 2,3-dioxigenase, KYNA: kynurenic acid, QUIN: quinolinic acid, L-KYN: L-kynurenine, 3-HK: 3-hydroxykynurenine, TRP: tryptophan, and CSF: cerebrospinal fluid.
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