[darkeyes]

I wanted to share this with you all, I just read this today and found it very interesting, I hope you get a chance to read this.

Science News Online Week of April 12, 2008; Vol. 173, No. 15
Body and Brain: Possible link between inflammation and bipolar disorder Tina Hesman Saey Bipolar disorder scrawls a molecular John Hancock across the brains of some people. The signature is sometimes visible even before symptoms start, researchers in the Netherlands report.
A team led by Hemmo Drexhage, a clinical immunologist at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, found that certain white blood cells, called monocytes, pump up activity of various genes in people who have bipolar disorder.
Many of the genes are involved in inflammation as well as cell movement, cell death or survival, and a pathway that allows cells to respond to chemicals that promote cell growth.
The signature of elevated gene activity in monocytes could help diagnose and classify bipolar disorder and other psychiatric disorders. Published in the April issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, the discovery also suggests that anti-inflammatory drugs could help treat the disorders.
Monocytes and other white blood cells called macrophages help fight infections and clean up dead and dying cells from injury sites.
"Everywhere in your body you have these cells, but they're not just lying around waiting for bugs to come around," Drexhage says.
The cells are involved in inducing fever.
They also play an important role in the brain. They are some of the cells that make up the microglia, which are support cells for neurons. Microglial cells help regulate the brain's chemical communication system, as well as neuron growth and the formation of connections between neurons.
Drexhage became interested in the link between inflammation and psychiatric illnesses when he learned that people with bipolar disorder have a three times greater than average chance of developing autoimmune thyroid disease, an inflammatory disorder. Other data suggest that the risk for type I diabetes and some other inflammatory diseases may also be elevated in people with psychiatric disease.
"It's not just a disease of the brain, it affects the entire system," Drexhage says.
His team isolated monocytes from mentally healthy people and from people with bipolar disorder. Activity levels of 19 genes were altered in people with bipolar disorder. Twenty-three of 42 people (55 percent) with bipolar disorder carried the signature alterations, while only seven of 38 healthy people (18 percent) did.
Children of bipolar patients also bore the disorder's signature more often than did offspring of healthy people, even before symptoms of the disorder were apparent.
During the course of the study, three of the children of people with bipolar disorder developed depression. All of them carried the bipolar signature in their monocytes before they developed the illness. The bipolar markers were also found in 85 percent of the children who already had mood disorders when the study started, compared with 45 percent of children without mood disorders. Only 19 percent of the offspring of healthy parents carried the signature. Lithium, a drug commonly used to treat bipolar disorder, brought activity levels of inflammatory genes down. But that's probably not the only effect the drug has on the brain, says Robert Yolken, director of the Stanley Neurovirology Laboratory at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in Baltimore.
Researchers need to develop a better picture of how the activity of inflammatory genes varies among the population before the signature recognized in the Dutch study can be used for widespread screening and diagnosis, Yolken says. If you have a comment on this article that you would like considered for publication in Science News, send it to editors@sciencenews.org. Please include your name and location. ScienceNews.org needs your inputTake our quick, 1-minute survey, and tell us how to improve our Web site.You might win a free iPod!.--> References: Padmos, R.C.... and H.A. Drexhage. 2008. A discriminating messenger RNA signature for bipolar disorder formed by an aberrant expression of inflammatory genes in monocytes. Archives of General Psychiatry 65(April):395–407. Abstract available at http://archpsyc.ama-assn.org/cgi/con...ract/65/4/395. Sources: Hemmo A. DrexhageDepartment of ImmunologyErasmus Medical CenterP.O. Box 17383000 DR RotterdamNetherlands Robert H. YolkenStanley Neurovirology LabJohns Hopkins University600 North Wolfe StreetBaltimore, MD 21207Web site: http://www.stanleylab.org http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20080412/fob3.asp From Science News, Vol. 173, No. 15, April 12, 2008, p. 228. Copyright (c) 2008 Science Service. All rights reserved. --------------------------------- Interested in new developments in science and technology? Considersubscribing to Science News. Visit Science News Online at http://www.sciencenews.org/ for access to additional news articles andsubscription information.

[darkeyes]

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[RelientK]

I have heard about this kind of research.

The one thing that I can't decide is this: Does the inflammation cause symptoms of Bipolar Disorder OR does inflammation occur as a result of unusual brain activity? In other words, which comes first - inflammation or mood episode?

Interestingly, I have an elevated ANA but no obvious autoimmune disease. Please note that an elevated ANA is pretty common for lots of people but it usually tapers back to normal over time. Mine has been elevated for years.

There seems to be a correlation between the immune system and bipolar disorder. I just can't decide which is the cause and which is the effect...

[Moose372]

That is interesting because I also have asthma and allergies.

[darkeyes]

I found it interesting I guess, cause I have Hashimoto's disease (hypothyroid with nodules) and once the doc's gave me the right dosages of Synthroid and Cytomel, I more or less became "normal" (balanced) as far as moods,etc.
I also had abnormal monocyte count before thyroid treatment.
Sooooooooooooo, I ask myself what came first, "thyroid disorder (most likely) or the so called DX for Bipolar-II I received back in 2000. Duh?
My personal feeling is if my doc had listened to me, first, and treated me properly for my thyroid problem, I may have been able to avoid the "Bipolar" DX and different former meds.
Just my opinion . . .

[Grace03]

Hi darkeyes!

This is a fascinating article. Of interest to me because since my Bipolar DX (or even before) my white blood count has consistently been in the high range. And I suffer with osteoarthritis..also DX at same time as Bipolar, about 18 mths ago. Coincidence? This is very interesting indeed.

Thank you for sharing it!

Grace03