Lithium treatment leads to synchronized circadian oscillations in human cells through the orphan nuclear receptor Rev-erba, according to a study in this week's Science. This molecular pathway may underlie lithium's effects on the circadian clock in people with bipolar disorder, a condition associated with aberrant circadian rhythms, according to the authors.It was already established that Rev-erba is part of the circadian clock and that lithium acts on a protein involved in circadian rhythm, glycogen synthase kinase 3b (GSK3b), said Eric Herzog of Washington University in St. Louis, who was not involved in the research. The researchers "link those two stories," Herzog noted, demonstrating "a pretty convincing specific interaction between lithium, GSK3, and circadian genes."In the classic molecular circadian loop in mammals, the transcription factors BMAL1 and CLOCK activate the clock genes Per and Cry, whose proteins feed back into the...
loopaRev-erbaaBmal1Mitchell LazarabThe ScientistPrevious workbbababaknownbaBmal1 gene expressioninhibitbaBmal1aaBmal1 aain vivoHusseini ManjiThe ScientistaBmal1 amlp@nasw.orgaSciencehttp://www.sciencemag.orgNeuroreportPM_ID: 11043560The Scientisthttp://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/14555/Annals of MedicinePM_ID: 16019718http://www.biology.wustl.edu/faculty/herzog/Annual Review of PhysiologyPM_ID: 11181971The Scientisthttp://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/12992/CellPM_ID: 12150932http://www.med.upenn.edu/lazarlab/CellPM_ID: 11440719CellPM_ID: 9635423The Scientisthttp://www.the-scientist.com/article/display/14254/PNASPM_ID: 8710892http://intramural.nimh.nih.gov/research/pi/pi_manji_h.html
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