Abstract

In a recent study, we found that lithium inhibits the function of guanine nucleotide-binding proteins, implicating G proteins as the common site for both the antimanic and antidepressant therapeutic effects of lithium. These findings may also suggest that an altered G protein function is of pathophysiological importance in bipolar affective disorder. In the present study, the coupling of both muscarinic-cholinergic receptors and beta-adrenergic receptors to pertussis toxin-sensitive G proteins or cholera toxin-sensitive G proteins was compared among untreated manic patients, lithium-treated euthymic bipolar patients, and healthy volunteers using mononuclear leukocyte (MNL) membrane preparations. Hyperactive function of G proteins was detected in untreated manic patients. Both isoproterenol-induced and carbamylcholine-induced increases in Gpp(NH)p binding capacity were twofold to threefold higher than the increases observed in healthy volunteers. On the other hand, lithium-treated euthymic bipolar patients showed G protein responses to agonist activation that were no different from the healthy volunteers. Altered G protein function may be of pathophysiological importance in bipolar affective disorder.