Scientists Find Link Between Bipolar Disorder and Neuroinflammation
Alerts
A doctor looking at a picture of a human brain taken by a positron emission tomography scanner, also called PET scan, on Jan. 9, 2019, at the Regional and University Hospital Center of Brest in France.
Photo: Fred Tanneau (Getty Images)
Scientists may be closer to understanding how the brain can function differently in people who have bipolar disorder. In a new study, researchers say they’ve found evidence that certain brain cells trigger inflammation more easily in those who have bipolar disorder, and that these wayward cells can be linked to decreased neural activity that could be harmful to our mental health.
Salk scientists receive $1.2 million from Larry L. Hillblom Foundation to study aging mechanisms
A collaborative team of Salk scientists led by Professor John Reynolds will receive $1.2 million over four years as part of a Network Grant from the Larry L. Hillblom Foundation to examine aging across the life span, including age-related neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer s disease.
The research will advance our understanding of aging mechanisms at the cognitive, genomic and cellular levels with potentially direct translatability to humans. Other members of the team include Salk President and Professor Rusty Gage, Staff Scientist Uri Manor, Senior Staff Researcher Courtney Glavis-Bloom, and Carol Marchetto, an assistant professor at the University of California San Diego.
E-Mail
LA JOLLA (January 27, 2021) A collaborative team of Salk scientists led by Professor John Reynolds will receive $1.2 million over four years as part of a Network Grant from the Larry L. Hillblom Foundation to examine aging across the life span, including age-related neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer s disease. The research will advance our understanding of aging mechanisms at the cognitive, genomic and cellular levels with potentially direct translatability to humans. Other members of the team include Salk President and Professor Rusty Gage, Staff Scientist Uri Manor, Senior Staff Researcher Courtney Glavis-Bloom, and Carol Marchetto, an assistant professor at the University of California San Diego.
According to a recent study, people with bipolar disorder that does not respond to lithium treatment may have insufficient levels of a protein called LEF1.
Study: Decreased activation of LEF1 gene disrupts ordinary neuronal function
Lithium is considered the gold standard for treating bipolar disorder (BD), but nearly 70 percent of people with BD don t respond to it. This leaves them at risk for debilitating, potentially life-threatening mood swings. Researchers at the Salk Institute have found that the culprit may lie in gene activity or lack of it.
A new study led by Salk Professor and President Rusty Gage, which published in the journal
Molecular Psychiatry on January 4, 2021, shows that decreased activation of a gene called LEF1 disrupts ordinary neuronal function and promotes hyperexcitability in brain cells a hallmark of BD. The work could result in a new drug target for BD as well as a biomarker for lithium nonresponsiveness.