Project Summary

Jun-Feng Wang, Ph.D. (Young Investigator 2005) of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health and the University of Toronto, aims to study what role glutathione S-transferase enzymes play in bipolar disease. Glutathione S transferase is a large family of enzymes that seem to prevent oxidative cellular damage. Recent research indicates that oxidative cellular damage may be implicated in bipolar disease. Dr. Wang recently has found that two glutathione S-transferase isoenzymes are reduced in number in postmortem brains of bipolar disorder subjects, and that another isoenzyme is increased in rat brains after treatment with lithium and valproate, the two most commonly used mood-stabilizing drugs to treat bipolar disorder. To further determine the role of glutathione S-transferase in bipolar disorder and its treatment, Dr. Wang plans to study the expression of all of its isoenzymes in postmortem brains from bipolar disorder patients, and the effect of mood-stabilizing drags on expression and enzyme activity of these isoenzymes in animal cells. Findings should provide new insights into the bipolar disorder disease process, leading to diagnostic markers and novel targets for therapies.

Program Area: MOOD DISORDERS\Bipolar\Bipolar I

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