"A New Target for Treating Mania?"

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https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/a-new-target-for-treating-mania/

Bipolar disorder and Gout, a type of arthritis, have one thing in common, uric acid. Too much uric acid causes gout and bipolar disorder and reducing uric acid is being recognized as a treatment for bipolar disorder. Uric acid is made up of compounds called purines. Purines are found in many different types of foods and are produced by the body. In bipolar disorder the compounds and neurotransmitter, adenosine, being broken down too quickly causes the over-production of uric acid which leads to mania.

Two different groups were tested with two different treatment drugs and a placebo. The drug treatment group received the drug valproate, a mood stabilizer, and allopurinol. The second group was given valproate and a placebo pill. The group receiving allopurinol showed sign of improvement with mania and lower uric acid levels. Another suggested treatment is for patients suffering from bipolar disorder to change their diet and eat less foods containing high levels of uric acid such as, anchovies, legumes, and alcohol.

This article was very interesting because it informed me of the main cause of mania in bipolar disorder. I found it very interesting that mania in bipolar disorder can be caused by an unbalanced level of uric acid in your body, but uric acid can have no affect on the depression side of the disease, bipolar disorder.

Comments

  1. JackieNovember 29, 2016 at 12:11 AM

    I never would have thought that certain foods can be a cause for mania. I would have assumed the environment would be a factor but not the type of foods. I wonder if a very low levels of uric acid have an effect?

    ReplyDelete
  2. DanielleKellyNovember 29, 2016 at 12:15 AM

    That's a very good point! I did not even consider the effect uric acid could have if it were very low levels instead of high. Could play a role in depression, possibly.

    ReplyDelete
  3. UnknownNovember 29, 2016 at 4:01 AM

    I also found it interesting that over consumption of purines and high levels of uric acid would correlate with manic episodes. It certainly calls in for more research as to how the high levels of uric acid effect the manic episode and how these high levels effect different parts of the brain that contribute to manic episodes.

    ReplyDelete

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