Short Telomeres in a Rat Model of Depression, Lithium Reverses Abnormality
telomere
Telomeres are repeated DNA sequences that sit at the end of chromosomes and protect them during cell replication. Telomeres get shorter with aging and with stressors or psychiatric illnesses. Researcher Alexandre Mathe and colleagues recently found that in a line of rats bred to be more susceptible to stress and depression-like behavior, hippocampal telomeres were shorter than in normal rats or rats bred to be less susceptible. The susceptible rats also had lower levels of enzymes that maintain telomere length. Both telomerase activity and Tert (telomerase reverse transcriptase) expression were reduced in the susceptible rat compared to the other rats. However, lithium reversed the low levels of telomerase activity and Tert expression.
Editor’s Note: Lithium increases hippocampal volume in people, and also increases human telomerase. Researcher Lina Martinsson reported in 2013 that lithium increases telomere length in white cells. Now lithium has increased hippocampal telomerase in a rat model of depression. Short telomeres are associated with aging and increased vulnerability to a wide range of medical and psychiatric disorders. Since people with bipolar disorder are prone to memory problems, medical problems, and short telomeres, they might want to talk to their physician about including lithium in their treatment regimen, if they are not already taking it.
Gene CACNA1C is Associated with Early-Onset Bipolar Disorder
Several genes have previously been implicated in bipolar illness. In a recent study, researchers at the Mayo Clinic, led by Paul Croarkin, compared variations in three genes (CACNA1C, ANK3, and ODZN) across 69 children aged 6–15 with mania, a 776-person control group from the Mayo Biobank database, and 732 adults with bipolar disorder (some with onset in childhood and adolescence and some with onset in adulthood, also from the Biobank). All participants were Caucasian, to minimize confounding by population stratification. The researchers found that the minor allele of rs10848632 in CACNA1C was associated with childhood onset of bipolar disorder. The haplotype (or sequence of nucleotides) T-G-G-T was the one associated with risk. Genetic risk scores were also associated with early onset of illness.
Editor’s Note: In research by Michael McCarthy and colleagues, CACNA1C has been linked to abnormal circadian rhythms in bipolar disorder and to responsiveness to lithium treatment. Together, these data suggest the importance of studying the calcium channel blocker nimodipine (which blocks calcium influx through CACNA1C) in childhood-onset bipolar disorder. A 1999 case report by Pablo A. Davanzo and colleagues described a teenager with ultra rapid cycling bipolar disorder (multiple mood switches/day) that did not respond to a host of conventional medications, who improved dramatically on nimodipine, reaching remission. This author (Robert M. Post) has also seen confirmed responsivity in adults with rapid cycling bipolar disorder (reported in the 2008 book Treatment of Bipolar Illness: A Casebook for Clinicians and Patients, by Post and Gabriele S. Leverich).
Calcium Channel May Be Responsible for Circadian Rhythm Abnormalities in Bipolar Disorder
Genetic variation in L-type calcium channel genes have been linked to bipolar disorder. Since calcium plays an important role in circadian rhythms, abnormalities in the calcium channel in bipolar disorder could explain some of the circadian rhythm disturbances patients with bipolar disorder exhibit. New research by Michael McCarthy and colleagues shows that calcium channels in general, and the gene CACNA1C in particular, affect signaling pathways that regulate circadian rhythms in both human and animal cells. The researchers also found that calcium channels affected how lithium changes circadian rhythms, suggesting a mechanism by which the treatment may work. They suggest that drugs that affect the L-type calcium channel may be promising treatments for bipolar disorder.
Editor’s Note: The L-type calcium channel blocker nimodipine has had antidepressant, antimanic, and anticycling effects in some patients with bipolar disorder in small studies both by Peggy Pazzaglia and colleagues (including this author Robert Post) and a larger randomized study by Haroon R. Chaudhry.
The clinical effects of nimodipine results thus align with studies linking the CACNA1C gene to bipolar illness and its early onset, increased expression of the gene in the brain of bipolar patients in autopsy studies, increased levels of calcium in white cells of bipolar patients, and a variety of other neurobiological phenomena observed in normal controls carrying the risk gene.
The new link found between CACNA1C and circadian rhythms further links the L-type calcium channel abnormality and bipolar disorder, as well as the therapeutic effects of the L-type calcium channel blocker nimodipine. This drug deserves further study, especially in those with the genetic variation in CACNA1C that has been linked to bipolar disorder.
