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©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatry. Nov 19, 2025; 15(11): 110690
Published online Nov 19, 2025. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v15.i11.110690
Published online Nov 19, 2025. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v15.i11.110690
Cognitive impairment and pain in depression: The mediating role of the kynurenine pathway
Ya-Jun Yun, Wen-Xuan Zhao, Ning Fan, Zhi-Ren Wang, Hui-Mei An, Fu-De Yang, Beijing Huilongguan Hospital, Peking University, Beijing 100096, China
Qi Zhang, Department of Psychiatry, The Affiliated Wuxi Mental Health Center of Nanjing Medical University, Wuxi 214151, Jiangsu Province, China
Co-corresponding authors: Hui-Mei An and Fu-De Yang.
Author contributions: Yun YJ designed the study and drafted manuscript; Zhang Q designed the study; Zhao WX and Fan N were responsible for investigation; Wang ZR was responsible for data curation and analysis; An HM and Yang FD were responsible for writing review and editing as the co-corresponding authors; all of the authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript to be published.
Supported by Grants from Beijing Municipal Science and Technology Commission, No. Z191100006619020; Beijing Municipal Administration of Hospitals Incubating Program, 2023, No. PX2023070; and Beijing Municipal Administration of Hospitals Incubating Program, 2024, No. PX2024072.
Institutional review board statement: This study was received ethical approval from the Institutional Review Board of Beijing Huilongguan Hospital (Beijing Huilongguan Ethics Committee, No. 2019-43).
Informed consent statement: All study participants provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
Data sharing statement: The data used in this study can be obtained from the corresponding author upon request.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Fu-De Yang, MM, Professor, Beijing Huilongguan Hospital, Peking University, No. 7 Nandian Road, Changping District, Beijing 100096, China.
Received: June 13, 2025
Revised: July 29, 2025
Accepted: September 4, 2025
Published online: November 19, 2025
Processing time: 144 Days and 4.3 Hours
Revised: July 29, 2025
Accepted: September 4, 2025
Published online: November 19, 2025
Processing time: 144 Days and 4.3 Hours
Core Tip
Core Tip: This study explores the relationship between the tryptophan-kynurenine (TRP-KYN) pathway and cognitive function in major depressive disorder (MDD) patients with and without painful physical symptoms. By analyzing serum metabolites and clinical assessments, we found that KYN level and TRP/KYN ratio were associated with pain severity but not with cognitive performance. These findings highlight the potential dissociation between pain-related and cognitive mechanisms in MDD and underscore the need for further studies on the biopsychosocial underpinnings of depression-related cognitive dysfunction.