Signal Transduction Pathways in the Pathophysiology of Bipolar Disorder

Abstract While research has identified alterations in dorsolateral prefrontal cortical function as a key factor to the etiology of bipolar disorder, few studies have uncovered robust changes in protein signal transduction pathways in this disorder. Given the direct relevance of protein-based expressional alterations to cellular functions and because many of the key regulatory mechanisms for the disease pathogenesis likely include alterations in protein activity rather than changes in expression alone, the identification of alterations in discrete signal transduction pathways in bipolar disorder would have broad implications for understanding the disease pathophysiology. As prior microarray data point to a previously unrecognized involvement of the RhoA network in bipolar disorder, here we investigate the protein expression and activity of key components of a RhoA signal transduction pathway in dorsolateral prefrontal cortical homogenates from subjects with bipolar disorder. The results of this investigation implicate overactivation of prefrontal cortical RhoA signaling in specific subtypes of bipolar disorder. The specificity of these findings is demonstrated by a lack of comparable changes in schizophrenia; however, our findings do identify convergence between both disorders at the level of activity-mediated actin cytoskeletal regulation. These findings have implications for understanding the altered cortical synaptic connectivity of bipolar disorder.

Download Full-text

Signal-regulated oxidation of proteins via MICAL

Biochemical Society Transactions ◽

10.1042/bst20190866 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 48 (2) ◽

pp. 613-620

Author(s):

Clara Ortegón Salas ◽

Katharina Schneider ◽

Christopher Horst Lillig ◽

Manuela Gellert

Keyword(s):

Signal Transduction ◽

Hydrogen Peroxide ◽

Cell Death ◽

Redox Regulation ◽

Signal Transduction Pathways ◽

Cellular Functions ◽

Intracellular Signals ◽

Amino Acid Side Chains ◽

Specific Receptors ◽

Sulfur Containing

Processing of and responding to various signals is an essential cellular function that influences survival, homeostasis, development, and cell death. Extra- or intracellular signals are perceived via specific receptors and transduced in a particular signalling pathway that results in a precise response. Reversible post-translational redox modifications of cysteinyl and methionyl residues have been characterised in countless signal transduction pathways. Due to the low reactivity of most sulfur-containing amino acid side chains with hydrogen peroxide, for instance, and also to ensure specificity, redox signalling requires catalysis, just like phosphorylation signalling requires kinases and phosphatases. While reducing enzymes of both cysteinyl- and methionyl-derivates have been characterised in great detail before, the discovery and characterisation of MICAL proteins evinced the first examples of specific oxidases in signal transduction. This article provides an overview of the functions of MICAL proteins in the redox regulation of cellular functions.

Download Full-text