Project Summary

Gautam N. Bijur, Ph.D. (Young Investigator 2005) of the University of Alabama in Birmingham, plans to use mass spectroscopy to characterize the workings of the enzyme glycogen synthase kinase 3p (GSK3P), which is inhibited by the drug lithium used to treat bipolar disorder and is dysfunctional in patients with schizophrenia. GSK3P is important because it can inhibit neuronal plasticity, the ability of the brain to change in response to stimuli. The goal of Dr. Bijur’s project is to analyze the affects of inhibiting GSK3P by lithium using mass spectroscopy, a technique that can rapidly screen and identify a large array of proteins modified by mood stabilizing drugs, such as lithium. In preliminary experiments, his laboratory has found that lithium results in the modification of numerous brain proteins, including two proteins associated with calcium signaling. Dr. Bijur will investigate the potential link between calcium signaling, which affects many brain functions and is altered in bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, and GSK3P signaling. Findings should increase understanding of the actions of mood-stabilizing drugs, and the effects of decreased GSK-3P on the maintenance of neuronal plasticity.

Program Area: MULTIPLE FOCUS AREAS\Bipolar Disorder/Schizophrenia

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