title: The role of neurotrophins in bipolar disorder.
abstract: Bipolar disorder (BD) is a chronic psychiatric illness of which the pathophysiology remains partially unknown. Abnormalities of neurotrophins and other trophic factors orchestrate important alterations which could be implicated in the etiology of BD. Therefore, the main objective of this review is to examine the recent findings and critically evaluate the potential role of neurotrophins that may allow us to substantially improve the development of novel treatments. The most recently published findings highlight that brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1) and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) present distinct patterns in the different stages of BD, suggesting their potential in the identification of the BD subgroups and may ultimately advance treatment strategies.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, 1 King's College Circle, Toronto, ON, M5S 1A8, Canada; Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 250 College Street, Toronto, ON, M5T 1R8, Canada. Electronic address: gustavo.scola@utoronto.ca.
authors.forename: Gustavo
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Scola
authors.affiliation: Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, 250 College Street, Toronto, ON, M5T 1R8, Canada; Department of Pharmacology and Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, 1 King's College Circle, Toronto, ON, M5S 1A8, Canada. Electronic address: ana.andreazza@utoronto.ca.
authors.forename: Ana Cristina
authors.initials: AC
authors.lastname: Andreazza
mesh_terms: D001714:Bipolar Disorder / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D009414:Nerve Growth Factors / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D009414:Nerve Growth Factors
keywords: Bipolar disorder; Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor; Insulin-like growth factor-1; Neurotrophins; Vascular endothelial growth factor