Bipolar disorder is a disorder where a person experiences extreme mood swings from being very happy to very sad or angry. A new study by scientists in Germany, with a follow up study, showed that a genetic variation in the gene neurocan (NCAN) showed significant associated with bipolar disorder in thousands of patients. The study was a GWAS, and then in the follow up study, they showed that the mouse version of the gene is strongly expressed in the brain areas associated with cognition and regulation of emotions.This is a great study because it shows that people with this variant of NCAN can be susceptible to Bipolar Disorder. However, as the scientists said, it is too early to jump the gun. A lot more studies need to be done as a continuation from this study to support the evidence from this study. But, if the NCAN variation really does make people more susceptible to bipolar disorder, then perhaps in the future scientists will be able to have gene therapy that targets that specific gene to perhaps decrease the chances of people getting bipolar disorder.
This could be really helpful. Knowing a few people with bipolar disorder i know how it can be a long drawn out process trying to determine if someone actually has a problem or a string of bad moods. If the link they found proves to be as significant as hoped then diagnosing someone as bipolar will become much less of a task.
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