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Psychiatry"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Accumulating evidence has suggested a dysfunction of synaptic plasticity in the pathophysiology of depression. Hydrogen sulfide (H<jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>S), an endogenous gasotransmitter that regulates synaptic plasticity, has been demonstrated to contribute to depressive-like behaviors in rodents. The current study investigated the relationship between plasma H<jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>S levels and the depressive symptoms in patients with depression. Forty-seven depressed patients and 51 healthy individuals were recruited in this study. The 17-item Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HAMD-17) was used to evaluate depressive symptoms for all subjects and the reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) was used to measure plasmaH<jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>S levels. We found that plasma H<jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>S levels were significantly lower in patients with depression relative to healthy individuals (<jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic> &amp;lt; 0.001). Compared with healthy controls (1.02 \u00b1 0.34 \u03bcmol\/L), the plasma H<jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>S level significantly decreased in patients with mild depression (0.84 \u00b1 0.28 \u03bcmol\/L), with moderate depression (0.62 \u00b1 0.21\u03bcmol\/L), and with severe depression (0.38 \u00b1 0.18 \u03bcmol\/L). Correlation analysis revealed that plasma H<jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>S levels were significantly negatively correlated with the HAMD-17 scores in patients (<jats:italic>r<\/jats:italic> = \u22120.484, <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic> = 0.001). Multivariate linear regression analysis showed that plasma H<jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>S was an independent contributor to the HAMD-17 score in patients (<jats:italic>B<\/jats:italic> = \u22120.360, <jats:italic>t<\/jats:italic> = \u22122.550, <jats:italic>P<\/jats:italic> = 0.015). Collectively, these results suggest that decreased H<jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>S is involved in the pathophysiology of depression, and plasma H<jats:sub>2<\/jats:sub>S might be a potential indicator for depression severity.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyt.2021.765664","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,11,11]],"date-time":"2021-11-11T06:40:32Z","timestamp":1636612832000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":18,"title":["Decreased Plasma Hydrogen Sulfide Level Is Associated With the Severity of Depression in Patients With Depressive 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