Project Summary

Chang-Gyu Hahn, M.D., Ph.D. (Young Investigator 2002) of University of Pennsylvania, will examine lithium-induced gene regulation in neuronal tissues of bipolar patients using olfactory receptor neurons (ORNs).  The action of lithium has never been studied in neuronal tissues of bipolar patients.  The only CNS neurons that are obtainable from living subjects are ORNs and are accessible even multiple times in the same individuals.  Therefore, ORNs provide a unique opportunity to study lithium-induced changes in gene regulation in correlation with the treatment response.  Dr. Hahn hypothesizes that lithium treatment regulates the expression of genes involved in calcium flux and other candidate genes and the gene regulators are more pronounced in patients who are responsive to lithium than those who are not.  This study will allow Dr. Hahn to correlate changes I gene regulation with clinical improvement in patients and to begin to distinguish therapeutically relevant components from many other changes that the treatment causes.

Program Area: MOOD DISORDERS\Bipolar

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