title: Second messenger/signal transduction pathways in major mood disorders: moving from membrane to mechanism of action, part II: bipolar disorder.
abstract: In this second of two articles on second messenger/signal transduction cascades in major mood disorders, we will review the evidence in support of intracellular dysfunction and its rectification in the etiopathogenesis and treatment of bipolar disorder (BD). The importance of these cascades is highlighted by lithium's (the gold standard in BD psychopharmacology) ability to inhibit multiple critical loci in second messenger/signal transduction cascades including protein kinase C (involved in the IP3/PIP2 pathway) and GSK-3β (canonically identified in the Wnt/Fz/Dvl/GSK-3β cascade). As a result, and like major depressive disorder (MDD), more recent pathophysiological studies and rational therapeutic targets have been directed at these and other intracellular mediators. Even in the past decade, intracellular dysfunction in numerous neuroprotective/apoptotic cascades appears important in the pathophysiology and may be a future target for pharmacological interventions of BD.
authors.affiliation: 1 National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Mental Health, Experimental Therapeutics and Pathophysiology Branch, Intramural Research Program, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
authors.forename: Mark J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Niciu
authors.forename: Dawn F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Ionescu
authors.forename: Daniel C
authors.initials: DC
authors.lastname: Mathews
authors.forename: Erica M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Richards
authors.forename: Carlos A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Zarate
mesh_terms: D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D015290:Second Messenger Systems / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology