The pessimistic conclusion I have come to after about 2 months of studying various neurological diseases is that we are all doomed.
OK, not really… but sort of…
There are so many things that can go wrong in the brain that it seems something will go wrong in everyone’s brain… eventually.
The topic of the week in our neurochemistry class was bipolar disorder, BD (also called manic depressive disorder). BD is a neurological disease that affects about 5.7 adult Americans and has an average onset age of 25 (http://www.dbsalliance.org/site/PageServer?pagename=education_statistics_bipolar_disorder). BD is a neuroprogressive disease and thus worsens with age, but unlike some other neuroprogressive diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, aging is not a huge risk factor. So what makes BD different from other neurological diseases? That was the question we tried to explore.
Like other diseases we have discussed, BD has many, many contributing factors….
-Excessive dopamine neurotransmission contributes to the manic side of BD by way of increasing oxidative stress in the neurons.
-Similarly, increased glutamate levels are involved with BD by way of increasing excitotoxicity in the cells which causes a damaging calcium influx.
-Inflammation around the neurons may contribute to the depressive side of BD as it is usually associated with depression.
-Oxidative energy generation is involved in BD; increased in mania and decreased in depression.
-Oxidative stress in the mitochondria of the neurons leads to mitochondrial dysfunction and can create free radicals that damage the cells.
BD can be treated with medications including anti-seizure medications and lithium.
So what makes BD distinct from other neurological diseases? Many of the listed factors in the diseases are almost exact repeats of the things that go wrong with Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s and ALS. The article we discussed does not really give a clear answer about the distinguishing characteristics of BD. It could be that it mainly depends on the types of neurons and locations of such neurons that are affected. It could also depend on when the neurons are damaged. Since BD has an earlier onset age and starts usually during development of the brain and AD and PD start much later in life, this factor could distinguish the diseases.
Regardless of the exact distinguishing factors, BD in severe cases is a debilitating disease that has similar characteristics to other neuroprogressive diseases. With every passing week, I am convinced that the brain is a delicate organ requiring the utmost balance in all of its processes, and with enough time… it is likely we will all get a neurological disease…. Let’s hope that is just me being pessimistic.
Article Reference: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0149763410001545
We Are All Doomed
