Project Summary

Jun-Feng Wang, Ph.D. (Young Investigator 2008) of University of British Columbia, seeks to determine if mitochondrial dysfunction-induced brain damage is prevented by treatment with mood stabilizers via the antioxidative glutathione/glutathione s-transferase pathway. The research will use advanced molecular biology, cellular biology and molecular pharmacology techniques on post-mortem brain tissue from bipolar disorder patients, and on rat neuronal cells. This research will contribute to understanding if mitochondrial dysfunction-induced damage is important in the pathological process of bipolar disorder and if this damage is prevented by treatment with mood stabilizers. This approach will lead to identifying new therapeutic targets in the glutathione/glutathione s-transferase pathway for investigation in clinical trials in the near future, contributing to new and more effective therapies for bipolar disorder with fewer side effects.

Program Area: MOOD DISORDERS\Bipolar

Search Again