Ferensztajn-Rochowiak Ewa, Tarnowski Maciej, Samochowiec Jerzy, Michalak Michal, Ratajczak Mariusz Z, Rybakowski Janusz K
Department of Adult Psychiatry, Poznan University of Medical Sciences, Poznan, Poland.
Department of Physiology, Pomeranian University of Medicine, Szczecin, Poland.
Eur Neuropsychopharmacol. 2016 Sep;26(9):1516-1521. doi: 10.1016/j.euroneuro.2016.07.009. Epub 2016 Jul 27.
Neuroinflammation, with microglial activation as an important element, plays a role in the pathogenesis of bipolar disorder (BD). Also, in mood disorders, pathological changes have been demonstrated in macroglial cells, such as astrocyctes and oligodendrocytes. Postmortem brain studies of BD patients to assess glial cells, such as astrocytes and oligodendrocytes and their markers such as glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), Olig1 and Olig2, produced controversial results. On the other hand, investigation of these markers in the peripheral blood of such patients has not been performed so far. In this study, we examined the mRNA levels of GFAP, Olig1 and Olig2, in the peripheral blood of three groups: 15 BD subjects with a duration of illness at least 10 years (mean 20±9 years) but never treated with lithium, 15 subjects with BD treated continuously with lithium for 8-40 years (mean 16±8 years), and 15 control subjects. The groups were age-and sex-matched. Expression of mRNA markers was measured by real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR (RQ-PCR). We observed increased mRNA levels of the Olig1 and Olig 2 glial markers studied in the BD patients not taking lithium, compared with the control subjects and increased mRNA level of GFAP, compared with lithium-treated patients. In the lithium-treated BD patients GFAP and Olig1 expression was at similar levels to that in the control group. However, Olig 2 expression was even higher than in the BD patients not taking lithium. The possible mechanisms concerning the higher expression of peripheral mRNA markers in BD patients may involve ongoing inflammatory process, compensatory mechanisms and regenerative responses. The beneficial effect of lithium may be related to its anti-inflammatory properties.
神经炎症以小胶质细胞激活为重要因素，在双相情感障碍（BD）的发病机制中起作用。此外，在情绪障碍中，已在星形胶质细胞和少突胶质细胞等大胶质细胞中证实了病理变化。对BD患者进行的死后大脑研究以评估胶质细胞，如星形胶质细胞和少突胶质细胞及其标志物，如胶质纤维酸性蛋白（GFAP）、Olig1和Olig2，结果存在争议。另一方面，目前尚未对这些患者外周血中的这些标志物进行研究。在本研究中，我们检测了三组患者外周血中GFAP、Olig1和Olig2的mRNA水平：15名BD患者，病程至少10年（平均20±9年），但从未接受过锂治疗；15名BD患者，连续接受锂治疗8 - 40年（平均16±8年）；以及15名对照受试者。三组在年龄和性别上匹配。通过实时定量逆转录PCR（RQ-PCR）测量mRNA标志物的表达。我们观察到，与对照受试者相比，未服用锂的BD患者中所研究的Olig1和Olig 2胶质标志物的mRNA水平升高，与接受锂治疗的患者相比，GFAP mRNA水平升高。在接受锂治疗的BD患者中，GFAP和Olig1的表达与对照组相似。然而，Olig 2的表达甚至高于未服用锂的BD患者。BD患者外周mRNA标志物表达较高的可能机制可能涉及持续的炎症过程、代偿机制和再生反应。锂的有益作用可能与其抗炎特性有关。
