Reduced density of glutamine synthetase immunoreactive astrocytes in different cortical areas in major depression but not in bipolar I disorder.

ABSTRACT: There is increasing evidence for disturbances within the glutamate system in patients with affective disorders, which involve disruptions of the glutamate-glutamine-cycle. The mainly astroglia-located enzyme glutamine synthetase (GS) catalyzes the ATP-dependent condensation of ammonia and glutamate to form glutamine, thus playing a central role in glutamate and glutamine homoeostasis. However, GS is also expressed in numerous oligodendrocytes (OLs), another class of glial cells implicated in mood disorder pathology. To learn more about the role of glia-associated GS in mental illnesses, we decided to find out if numerical densities of glial cells immunostained for the enzyme protein differ between subjects with major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder (BD), and psychically healthy contr

SUBMITTER: Bernstein HG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4530620 | biostudies-literature | 2015

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature