An exploratory study conducted at the University of Eastern Finland has examined metabolomic patterns associated with psychotic-like experiences in adolescents, highlighting the influence of cannabis use. These findings suggest that specific metabolite patterns associated with psychotic-like experiences may vary between cannabis users and non-users, potentially reflecting different underlying molecular pathways in psychotic-like experiences.

The study analysed blood samples from 76 adolescent outpatients experiencing depression, using mass spectrometry to assess metabolite concentrations. The researchers identified variations in lipid metabolism and oxidative stress, specifically in relation to hallucinations. Interestingly, among adolescents who did not use cannabis, these experiences also correlated with inflammatory metabolic changes. In contrast, cannabis-related alterations were primarily tied to metabolites involved in alternative energy pathways in the brain, particularly those related to ketogenesis. Although these findings are preliminary, they suggest molecular differences in the psychotic-like experiences of adolescents with and without a history of cannabis use. The results were published in Translational Psychiatry.

“It appears that different metabolomic changes are associated with psychotic-like experiences if the person has used cannabis,” notes Karoliina Kurkinen, a Doctoral Researcher at the University of Eastern Finland and the first author of the study.

“These alterations don’t necessarily indicate future psychosis or a psychotic disorder. However, it will be interesting to see if these early metabolomic changes correlate with different psychiatric conditions later in life.”

The study also identified unique metabolomic patterns associated with specific dimensions of psychotic-like experiences, such as delusions, paranoia, hallucinations, negative symptoms, thought disorders and dissociation. These findings encourage a re-evaluation of how psychiatry categorises symptoms, suggesting that distinct symptom dimensions could be linked to unique metabolic signatures.

In the future, the team aims to conduct a similar study with a larger sample size, along with follow-up and registry-based analyses to track psychiatric diagnoses over time.

“We are only scratching the surface of what’s possible in this area of research,” Kurkinen says. “Future studies focusing on symptom dimensions and distinct biological pathways could greatly advance precision psychiatry and improve our understanding of psychiatric disorders.”