Mood disorders and parity - a clue to the aetiology of the postpartum trigger.

Background: Episodes of postpartum psychosis have been associated with first pregnancies in women with bipolar I disorder. It is unclear, however, if the effect extends to episodes at other times in relation to childbirth and to women with other mood disorders such as major depression and bipolar II disorder. This primiparity effect, which is also seen in other pregnancy related conditions such as pre-eclampsia, is a potentially important clue to the aetiology of childbirth related mood episodes.

Perinatal episodes across the mood disorder spectrum.

CONTEXT Affective disorders are common in women, with many episodes having an onset in pregnancy or during the postpartum period. OBJECTIVE To investigate the occurrence and timing of perinatal mood episodes in women with bipolar I disorder, bipolar II disorder, and recurrent major depression (RMD). SETTING AND PATIENTS Women were recruited in our ongoing research on the genetic and nongenetic determinants of major affective disorders.

Bipolar affective puerperal psychosis: genome-wide significant evidence for linkage to chromosome 16.

Objective: Vulnerability to the triggering of bipolar episodes by childbirth aggregates in families and may define a genetically relevant subtype of bipolar disorder. The authors conducted a search by systematic whole genome linkage scan for loci influencing vulnerability to bipolar affective puerperal psychosis.

Method: The authors selected families with bipolar disorder from their previous bipolar disorder genome scan, in which there was at least one family member with a manic or psychotic episode with an onset within 6 weeks of delivery.

Operation of the schizophrenia susceptibility gene, neuregulin 1, across traditional diagnostic boundaries to increase risk for bipolar disorder.

Context: Family and twin data suggest that, in addition to susceptibility genes specific for bipolar disorder or schizophrenia, genes exist that contribute to susceptibility across the traditional kraepelinian divide. Several studies have provided evidence that variation at the neuregulin 1 (NRG1) gene on chromosome 8p12 influences susceptibility to schizophrenia. The most consistent finding has been that one particular haplotype (the "core" haplotype) is overrepresented in cases compared with control subjects.

Bipolar disorder and polymorphisms in the dysbindin gene (DTNBP1).

Background: Several studies support the dysbindin (dystrobrevin binding protein 1) gene (DTNBP1) as a susceptibility gene for schizophrenia. We previously reported that variation at a specific 3-locus haplotype influences susceptibility to schizophrenia in a large United Kingdom (UK) Caucasian case-control sample.

Methods: Using similar methodology to our schizophrenia study, we have investigated this same 3-locus haplotype in a large, well-characterized bipolar sample (726 Caucasian UK DSM-IV bipolar I patients; 1407 ethnically matched controls).