Brain chemical concentrations bipolar key
LONDON (UPI) -- Lithium and valproic acid -- long used to treat bipolar disorder -- may help bring neurotransmitters into balance, British and U.S. researchers found.
The study, published in Molecular Psychiatry, found levels of an amino acid -- glutamate -- that acts as a neurotransmitter was higher in the postmortem brain tissue of those who had bipolar disease than those who didn't.
The researchers, at the Imperial College London and the University of Cambridge, both in England, and the National Institutes of Mental Health in the United States used postmortem human brain tissue to discover which chemicals were out of balance and rat studies to test the effect of medication.
However, glutamate/glutamine ratios decreased in rats given valproate. Another neurotransmitter -- gamma-aminobutyri acid -- was decreased in bipolar brains. Levels of this chemical were increased in rats after lithium. The medications depleted creatine and myo-inositol which had been found in increased levels in the brain tissue of those in bipolars.
"By identifying a distinct biochemical profile in patients with bipolar disorder, our new research provides a valuable insight into the origins and causes of the disease," Tsz Tsang of the Imperial College London said in a statement.
Source:
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