14 DAY TRIAL // A group of scientists from the Karolinska Institute in Sweden announces the discovery of a gene that may play an important role in controlling psychosis in bipolar disorders. In some cases, patients suffering from BPD display the same types of hallucinations and delusions as people suffering from schizophrenia, and the reason why this happens has thus far eluded researchers.
Those suffering from bipolar disorders go through alternative episodes of mania and depression and calm periods where no such symptoms are apparent. In some cases, when the maniac/depressive stage is turned on, psychosis can also develop. The KI team has determined that the gene coding for a chemical called kynurenic acid (KYNA) may be responsible for this occurrence.
KYNA, which is generally synthesized during stress-caused inflammation, “affects several signaling pathways important to brain function,” says KI researcher Professor Martin Schalling, MD, PhD. The acid is produced by an enzyme called KMO, whose levels are significantly reduced in the brains of BPD/psychosis patients, PsychCentral reports.
“Genetic variation in KMO influences the risk for psychotic features in mania of bipolar disorder patients,” the team writes in a new paper accompanying the study, which is published in the latest issue of the journal Molecular Psychiatry. A variant of the KMO gene, called KMO Arg452, was found to be responsible for the highest incidence of psychotic episodes in BPD patients.