The upregulation of Na+,K(+)-ATPase pump numbers in lymphocytes from the first-degree unaffected relatives of patients with manic depressive psychosis in response to in vitro lithium and sodium ethacrynate.
Antia IJ., Smith CE., Wood AJ., Aronson JK.
Patients with manic depressive disorder (DSM-III-R bipolar disorder) have an abnormality of the Na+,K(+)-ATPase pumps in their lymphocytes: the pump numbers do not upregulate to stimulation with lithium and ethacrynate. We have now investigated the in vitro adaptive responses of lymphocyte Na+,K(+)-ATPase pumps in the first-degree unaffected relatives of patients with a clear history of manic depressive disorder. The lymphocytes of the healthy relatives upregulated their Na+,K(+)-ATPase pumps normally, suggesting that the abnormal response that we have previously observed in patients with the disorder reflects a complex relation between the biochemical phenotype and the development of clinical symptoms.