2018-2019 Faculty Research Grants
Marlene Murray (Biology)
The Effects of Omega-3 Fatty Acids on Expression of the ISYNA1 and IMPA Genes in Human Brain Cells
Bipolar disorder is a serious brain illness that causes unusual mood changes. The cause is unclear and the treatment available is not always effective or well tolerated. The mechanism by which current mood stabilizers exert their effect is unclear however one hypothesis is that they exert their effect via the inositol biosynthetic pathway. Omega-3-fatty acids have been shown to alleviate symptoms in bipolar patients. Research in my lab supports that they affect components in the inositol biosynthetic pathway. Thus the goal of this study is to determine the effects of the omega-3-fatty acids decosahexaenoic acid (DHA) and eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) on the expression of the IMPA1 and ISYNA genes in human brain cells. The genes are directly involved in synthesizing inositol. This will be accomplished using real-time PCR to quantify the mRNA of the ISYNA1 and IMPA1 genes of cells grown in the presence of DHA and EPA.