Background: Total serum sialic acid (TSA) and lipid associated sialic acid (LSA) have not been measured yet in depressive disorders.
Aim :The present study was undertaken to show if there is any change in the concentration of different forms of sialic acids in patients with depressive disorder.
Methods: TSA and LSA levels have been estimated in serum of 72 patients with depression, in addition to 50 healthy controls .
Results reflect a significant increase (p<0.05) in the TSA and BSA in the depressed patients as compared with healthy controls.
Conclusions: It could be concluded that TSA and BSA could reflect an immune like response to depression associated with increase in the sialylation of different glycoproteins.