SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES IN NEURAL CIRCUITRY CHANGES IN THE LIMBIC LOBE OF SCHIZOPHRENIC AND BIPOLAR SUBJECTS

SIMILARITIES AND DIFFERENCES IN NEURAL CIRCUITRY CHANGES IN THE LIMBIC LOBE OF

Program in Structural and Molecular Neuroscience, McLean Hospital, Belmont, MA;

Program in Neuroscience and Department of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School,

A compilation of results from postmortem

studies of the anterior cingulate cortex over the past 12 years have revealed

both similarities and differences when schizophrenic and bipolar groups have

been compared.  For markers of the GABA system, there is a great deal of overlap

in the findings for the two patient groups when compared to normal controls.  On

the other hand, results obtained from analyses of the glutamate system and

apoptosis have suggested that intracellular signaling and metabolic pathways may

behave differently in schizophrenic and bipolar subjects.  Taken together, these

results are consistent with a “two factor model” of psychotic disorders in which

environmental factors common to schizophrenia and bipolar disorder may affect

the GABA system, while specific susceptibility gene(s) for the respective

diagnostic groups may be reflected in the differences observed for the

regulation of apoptotic cascades.  Overall, these findings raise the possibility

that the development of novel pharmacologic treatments that are uniquely

effective in the treatment schizophrenic versus bipolar disorder may find a

basis in the transcriptional regulation of complex intracellular signaling that

mediate the response to oxidative stress. Supported by MH00423, MH42261,