Project Summary

Rif S. El-Mallakh, M.D. (Independent Investigator 2004) of University of Louisville, plans to develop cell cultures from the olfactory neurons of bipolar patients to investigate whether the cells contain aberrations in their sodium pumps compared with cells from healthy people. Clues to the pathophysiology of bipolar illness suggest abnormalities in second messenger signaling or intracellular ion homeostatic deregulation. Attempts to investigate these processes have been hampered by the inability to directly examine living neuronal tissue that has the genetic heritage of the disease. Human olfactory mucosa is comprised, in part, of neural cells and progenitor cells that possess the ability to differentiate into neurons and supporting cells. In the proposed study, Dr. El-Mallakh aims to create neural and glial cell lines from biopsies of the olfactory mucosa of bipolar and healthy controls and to measure the cells’ reactions to ionic stresses. Although studies from lymphoblasts show differential reactions to ionic stresses, Dr. El-Mallakh says it is important to show such distinctions in nerve tissue from bipolar patients to get a better understanding of the mechanism of the disease.

Program Area: MOOD DISORDERS\Bipolar

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