Connection between the Linoleic Acid and Psychopathology: A Symmetry-Breaking Phenomenon in the Brain?

Massimo Cocchi^1,2*, Chiara Minuto^1,2, Lucio Tonello¹, Jack A. Tuszynski^3,4

¹“Paolo Sotgiu” Institute for Research in Quantitative & Quantum Psychiatry & Cardiology, LUdeS, Lugano, Switzerland.
²Department of Veterinary Medical Sciences, University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy.
³Department of Oncology, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.
⁴Department of Physics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada.

DOI: 10.4236/ojd.2015.44005                

Abstract

In this paper we discuss the role of the fatty acid composition of brain cells and in platelets in the emergence of psychiatric disorders such as major depression and the bipolar disorder. We argue that the linoleic acid concentration plays the role of a control parameter and there is a critical value of the linoleic acid concentration that determines a transition from healthy mental state to a pathological state. We draw an analogy with symmetry breaking in physical systems where at a bifurcation point on the phase diagram, infinitesimal perturbations to the state of the system result in a transition to a new global attractor state. This is in contrast to the situation away from the critical point where cause and effect are usually found in a linear or almost linear relationship. This observation may have major implications for both diagnostics and therapeutics of mental disorders when viewed as triggered by molecular causes.

Keywords

Psychiatric Disorders, Bipolar Disorder, Depression, Fatty Acids, Linoleic Acid, Cytoskeleton, Symmetry Breaking, Quantum Physics

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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