High Levels of Glutamate in Bipolar Disorder

Mental illness is a difficult reality for many Americans. In fact, the Depression and Bipolar Support Alliance estimates that 5.6 million Americans are inflicted with the disorder, 2.6 percent of the population. Treating the disorder is difficult at best, and scientists are now looking to amino acids to alleviate some of the disorder's symptoms.

What is Bipolar Disorder?

• According to the National Institute of Mental Health, bipolar disorder is "a serious medical illness that causes shifts in a person's mood, energy and ability to function." Exactly how bipolar disorder affects the brain is unknown; its symptoms, however, are not.

What is Glutamate?

• Glutamate, according to the Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Association, is a simple amino acid which acts as a messenger for nerve cells. Glutamate bonds to a neuron and tells it whether or not to fire off its own neurons.

Glutamate and Bipolar Disorder

• Medline states that when testing bipolar patients in an acute manic episode, characterized by abnormal excitement and grandiose thoughts, glutamate levels are high.

Medications

• Medications referred to as "mood stabilizers" affect bipolar mood swings by controlling amino acids such as glutamate. These medications control the amount of glutamate that attaches to neurons, thus reducing the chance of mood change.

Future

• More and more medications are being tested to treat bipolar disorder. As we continue to learn more about the disorder, targeting exact areas of the brain with new medications is slowly eliminating bipolar disorder's symptomology.